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ACROSS  THE    PLAINS 

TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852 

JOURNAL  OF 

MRS.   LODISA  FRIZZELL 

EDITED    FROM   THE   ORIGINAL    MANUSCRIPT 

IN  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

By  VICTOR  HUGO  PALTSITS 

KEEPER    OF    MANUSCRIPTS 

A 

^^m 

THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

1915 

ACROSS  THE    PLAINS 

TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852 


JOURNAL  OF 
MRS.   LODISA  FRIZZELL 


EDITED    FROM    THE    ORIGINAL    MANUSCRIPT 

IN  THE  NEW  YORK   PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

By  VICTOR  HUGO  PALTSITS 

KEEPER    OF    MANUSCRIPTS 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC    LIBRARY 

1915 


Reprinted   May   1915 

FROM     THE 

Bulletin   of  The   New   York   Public   Library 

OF 

April  1915 


tiiriii  i>-4r  (iT-iT-it  w*! 


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CM. 


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FROM   A   WATER-COLOR  BY  MRS.  FRIZZELL.  AUTHOR  OF 
THE  ACCOMPANYING  NARRATIVE 


ACROSS    THE    PLAINS    TO    CALIFORNIA    IN    1852 

FROM  THE  LITTLE  WABASH  RIVER  IN  ILLINOIS  TO 
THE  PACIFIC  SPRINGS  OF  WYOMING 


Journal  of  Mrs.  Lodisa  Frizzell 

Edited  from  the  Original  Manuscript  in  The  New  York  Public  Library 

By  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits,  Keeper  of  Manuscripts 


EDITOR'S  NOTE 


THIS  simple  narrative  journal  was  written  at  Cafion  Creek  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountains  of  California,  in  the  middle  of  December,  1852, 
by  Mrs.  Lodisa  Frizzell,  who,  with  her  husband,  Lloyd  Frizzell,  and  their 
four  sons,  set  out  on  April  14th,  of  that  year,  from  their  unnamed  home, 
not  far  from  Ewington,  Effingham  County,  Illinois,  on  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  Little  Wabash  River,  on  an  overland  journey  to  California.  The 
journal  records  her  observations  and  experiences  from  the  Little  Wabash, 
across  Illinois  and  Missouri,  to  St.  Louis  and  St.  Joseph,  and  over  the  St. 
Joseph  and  Oregon  Trails  to  the  Pacific  Springs,  in  Fremont  County, 
Wyoming.  Here,  at  the  continental  divide  and  at  the  halfway  point  of 
her  journey,  the  journal  ends,  on  June  26th,  or  the  seventy-fourth  day  out. 
It  was  nearly  seven  months  later,  in  her  snowbound  quarters  of  the  Sierra 
Nevadas,  that  she  busied  herself  with  its  composition  from  notes  she  had 
kept  by  the  way,  enlivened  by  her  memory. 

Mrs.  Frizzell's  journal  was  secured  by  The  New  York  Public  Library 
with  the  manuscripts  of  the  Ford  Collection,  presented  by  the  late  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan.  It  has  a  quaint  manuscript  title-page,  as  follows :  Narative 
of  a  Journal  [sic]  across  the  "Plains"  in  1852  by  Mrs.  Lodisa  Frizzell.  Illus- 
trated by  several  original  drawings.  And  to  my  relatives,  and  friends,  respect- 
fully subscribed.  A  later  hand  has  written  over  the  title  the  words,  *'The 
Overland  Route  to  California."  Among  the  numerous  amateurish  illus- 
trations drawn  by  lead  pencil  and  tinted  with  colors,  three  are  reproduced 
here;  also  her  three  route  maps.  The  other  illustrations  include  the 
following:  "The  home  I  left  behind  me"  (Her  home  in  Illinois)  ;  "Cross- 
ing the  Nimehaw" ;  "Killing  a  buffalo" ;  "Independence  Rock" ;  "A  view 
of  Devil's  Gate" ;  "Distant  view  of  Courthouse  &  Chimney  rocks" ;  "Chim- 
ney Rock  5  miles  distant" ;  "Distant  view  of  Laramie  Peak" ;  "A  view  of 
Sweetwater  mountains.  5  miles  west  of  the  Devil's  Gate";  "Buffalo 
skeletons";  "View  of  the  Wind  range  of  mountains";  "View  of  South 
Pass";  "A  Horned  Frog." 

[3] 


4  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Written  on  inner  covers  or  flyleaves  are  several  names,  which  may 
be  of  value  for  future  identification.  They  are:  John  G.  Harness,  1852; 
Nancy  Varnyan;  G.  W.  Catron;  Wm.  Malone;  Orin  Anderson  and  T. 
Alexander.  Nothing  has  been  discovered  of  the  personal  history  of  this 
Frizzell  family.  The  patronymic,  however,  is  found  at  an  early  period  in 
New  England. 

In  1859,  Lieutenant  Gouverneur  K.  Warren,  of  the  corps  of  topo- 
graphical engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  issued  a  Memoir  and  map  of  the  exploring 
expeditions  in  the  West,  from  1800  to  1857,  and  an  epitome  thereof  forms 
a  part  of  volume  1  of  Wheeler's  Report,  appendix  F,  of  the  United  States 
Geographical  Surveys  west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian  (Washington, 
1889).  Among  the  narratives  of  those  who,  in  the  main,  travelled  the 
route  covered  by  Mrs.  Frizzell,  the  earliest  is  the  journal  of  Robert  Stuart, 
1812,  of  which  The  New  York  Public  Library  has  a  complete  typewritten 
transcript,  made  from  the  original  manuscript  in  1908.  This  journey  was 
begun  in  June,  1812,  at  Astoria,  and  ended  at  the  Ohio.  It  was  under- 
taken by  representatives  of  the  Pacific  Fur  Company.  The  next  impor- 
tant expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  made  by  Captain  B.  L.  E. 
Bonneville,  1832-1836,  of  which  we  have  the  record  in  Washington 
Irving's  The  Rocky  Mountains,  first  published  in  1837,  in  two  volumes.  In 
1835,  Colonel,  afterwards  General  Henry  Dodge,  covered  a  part  of  the 
way  en  route  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas.  In  1842,  J.  C.  Fremont 
traversed  the  Plains  on  his  first  expedition,  ending  in  the  Wind  River 
Mountains,  and  in  1843-1844,  he  went  over  much  of  the  same  ground. 
Joel  Palmer's  journal  of  his  travels  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  1845- 
1846,  was  printed  in  1852,  and  has  been  edited  as  a  part  of  Thwaites's 
Early  Western  Travels.  Among  the  California  pioneers,  who  went  over 
the  route  in  the  mad  rush  of  1849,  was  Amasa  Delano,  who  wrote  an  illu- 
minating journal,  published  as  Life  on  the  Plains,  in  1854.  These  and  many 
other  publications  have  been  consulted  in  editing  the  Frizzell  journal. 


THE  JOURNAL 

PREFACE 


Agreeable  to  my  promise  I  now  set  down  to  write  the  incidents  of 
my  journey  to  Callifornia.  Having  taken  notes  by  the  way,  I  shall  be 
able  by  the  assistance  of  my  memory,  to  give  you  a  full  &  accurate  ac- 
count of  the  "trip."  It  is  now  about  the  middle  of  December,^  I  am  here 
in  midst  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  rightly  named  snowy  mountains,  the  snow 
has  been  constantly  falling  for  the  last  ten  days  &  still  it  has  not  abated; 
it  is  now  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  this  place  (Canyan  Creek*)  &  on 
the  mountain  tops,  fifty  or  more,  there  is  no  passing  or  repassing  at  pres- 


'  December,    1852. 

'  Canon  Creek,  a  north  branch  of  Trinity  R.,  in  Trinity  Co.,  Gal. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  5 

ent,  I  am  shut  up  in  my  room,  the  snow  having  completely  blocked  up  both 
doors  and  windows,  I  therefore  have  lighted  my  candles  &  sat  down  to 
amuse  myself  &  "while  the  tideous  hours  away"  by  giving  you  my 
narative. 


CHAPTER  I 
From  the  Wabash  River*  to  St.  Louis 

We  (that  is  George  Westall  Bethel  Elliot,  my  husband^  &  myself) 
started  for  California  on  the  14th  day  of  April,  with  five  yoke  of  cattle 
one  pony  &  sidesaddle,  &  accompanied  by  several  of  our  friends  &  neigh- 
bors as  far  as  the  first  town,  where  we  parted  &  said  our  last  good  by, 
&  turning  westward  which  was  to  be  our  course  for  most  of  the  way  of 
our  long  journey. 

The  first  night  we  put  up  at  widdow  womans,  v^e  did  not  camp  out, 
all  though  we  had  intended  to  commence  camping  from  the  start,  but  it 
goes  so  much  "agin  the  grane"  at  first,  &  then  there  is  so  many  fine  people 
passing  &  repassing  along  the  road,  while  you  are  eating  your  meal  on  a 
log,  or  stump,  or  the  end  board  of  your  waggon,  with  your  tin  plates  tin 
cups  &c.  For  my  part  I  felt  kinder  streaked^  at  first,  especially  while  we 
traveled  in  the  states.  ,As  I  said  we  did  not  camp  out  the  first  night  & 
having  plenty  of  victuals  with  us  went  in  made  some  tea,  fried  some  eggs, 
eat  our  suppers,  &  were  accomodated  with  a  fine  bed,  which  is  a  great 
luxury  after  a  hard  days  travel;  but  my  thoughts  and  reflections  were 
such  that  I  could  not  readily  fall  asleep.  Who  is  there  that  does  not 
recollect  their  first  night  when  started  on  a  long  journey,  the  wellknown 
voices  of  our  friends  still  ring  in  our  ears,  the  parting  kiss  feels  still  warm 
uppon  our  lips,  &  that  last  seperating  word  Farewell!  sinks  deeply  into  the 
heart.  It  may  be  the  last  we  may  ever  hear  from  some  or  all  of  them,  & 
to  those  who  start  for  California  there  can  be  no  more  solemn  scene  of 
parting  only  at  death ;  for  how  many  are  now  sleeping  in  death  on  the 
lonely  plains  whose  Farewell  was  indeed  their  last. 

[April  15  —  2d  day]  But  to  return,  we  started  in  the  morning  of  our 
seckond  day,  a  fine  clear  sky,  but  the  roads  rather  muddy.  Loyd^  killed 
ten  plovers  with  2  shots  of  his  double  barrel  shotgun,  which  we  dressed, 
&  had  a  fine  supper,  which  we  cooked  by  a  log  in  the  wood  where  we 
camped  for  the  night,  about  half  a  mile  west  of  Ewington-^  We  obtained 
lodging  nearby,  slept  soundly  started  in  the  morning  [April  16  —  3d  day] 
after  preparing  our  hasty  meal;  it  soon  commenced  raining  I  kept  in  the 
waggon,  we  killed  2  ducks  &  some  plovers,  bought  some  butter,  &  ^.t 


^  Little  Wabash  River  of  Illinois. 
^  Her  husband  was  Lloyd  Frizzell. 

*  An  Americanism  with  various  meanings,  —  "ashamed,"  "disconcerted,"  etc. 

*  Her  husband. 

'  Ewington,  Effingham  Co.,  111.,  twenty-nine  miles  northeast  of  Vandalia,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Little  Wabash  River.  It  was  formerly  the  county  seat  and  derived  its  name  from  Gen.  W.  L.  D.  Ewing, 
a  prominent   lawyer   of  Vandalia. 


6  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

night  having  come  about  21  miles  we  encamped  had  a  fine  supper,  the 
proprietor  of  the  place  came  down  &  spent  the  evening  with  us  around 
our  large  fire,  we  went  up  to  the  house  with  him  stayed  'till  morning, 
yoked  up  our  team  started  on  our  journey  [April  17  —  4th  day],  killed 
2  squirrels  &  some  quails,  3  horse  teams  passed  us  to-day  for  California, 
we  put  up  to-night  3  miles  east  of  Greenville.^ 

[April  18 — 5th  day]  To  day  Sunday  passed  through  the  beautiful 
town  of  Greenville  which  approached  from  the  east  has  a  very  picturesque 
appearance  from  the  hill  which  overlooks  the  town  &  surrounding  coun- 
try, Crossed  Lookingglass  Prairie^  which  is  the  most  beautiful  &  fertile 
prairie  I  ever  saw,  but  being  so  large  it  is  but  thinly  settled,  encamped  on 
the  west  side  of  it,  at  a  house,  it  being  to  late  to  reach  the  timber  that 
night. 

[April  19  —  6th  day]  Killed  3  squirrels  traveled  22  miles  encamped 
in  a  wood,  slept  in  the  waggon  for  the  first  time,  passed  through  a  small 
town  this  morning  [April  20  —  7th  day]  as  we  proceeded  on  our  journey, 

&  about  10  o'clock  we  came  to  the  pleasant  town  of  C ville,^  from  there 

we  had  the  pleasure  of  traveling  on  a  fine  plank  road,  we  soon  came 
in  sight  of  the  tall  spires  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,^  &  there  were  other 
signs  that  we  were  approaching  a  great  metropolis,  there  were  gentle- 
men on  the  ponds'*  fishing  some  gunning,  &  several  little  boys  along 
the  roadside  with  spear  in  hand,  a  sack  thrown  over  their  shoulder  & 
with  deliberate  aim  picked  up  every  frog  that  dared  to  put  their  heads 
above  the  water,  they  were  not  doing  this  for  sport  or  prehaps  [sic]  the 
frogs  might  have  reproved  them,  but  for  proffit,  I  asked  one  little  fellow 
what  he  got  for  his  frogs?  he  said  3  bits^  a  dozzen.  About  the  middle 
of  the  day  we  arived  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  opposite  St.  Louis, 
encamped  in  sight  of  several  waggons  which  we  knew  from  appearences 
were  for  the  same  destination  as  ourselves,  the  horse  teems  which  had 
passed  us  some  days  before  soon  came  up,  some  of  their  party  had  been 
through  before,  &  we  intended  to  travel  with  them  seeing  that  we  could 
go  as  far  in  a  day  as  they  did,  but  circumstances  prevented  as  you  will 
soon  see.  The  men  all  went  over  to  the  city,  &  returned  in  the  evening 
with  an  account  of  the  vast  number  of  Californians  (as  we  were  called 
here)  who  were  there  outfiting  &  shipping  &c. 

[April  21  —  8th  day]  This  morning  we  went  down  to  the  Ferry 
crossed  over,  &  with  much  difficulty  forced  our  way  through  the  narrow 
streets  which  were  crowded  with  drays,  &  the  loose  stalk  which  was  being 
driven  down  to  the  ferry  boat,  but  we  made  our  way  up  to  the  place  where 


'  Greenville,  Bond  Co.,  111.,  the  county  seat,  situate  on  the  East  Fork  of  Big  Shoal  Creek. 

*  Looking  Glass  Prairie,  a  large,  fine  and  undulating  prairie,  situate  between  Silver  and  Sugar  Creeks, 
on  the  eastern  border  of  St.  Clair  Co.,  111. 

»  Collinsville,  Madison  Co.,  111. 

*  They  were  near  East  St.  Louis. 

*  Indian  Lake  may  be  meant. 

*  A  colloquialism  usually  denoting  a  shilling,  valued  at  twelve  and  a  half  cents.     A  long  bit  is  fifteen 
cent!  and  a  short  bit  is  ten  cents. 


^£<>t/p(yn^a^t^vo-'  or     wi/.     ^<xtyUj . 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  7 

we  were  to  get  our  outfit,  it  was  nearly  opposite  the  postoff ice,  fortunately 
there  was  a  pile  of  bricks  lying  on  the  side  of  the  road  which  protected 
our  team  or  I  think  they  must  have  been  run  over.  I  choose  to  set  in 
the  waggon  while  they  were  trading;  &  never  before  did  I  see  such  bustle, 
&  hear  such  a  din  as  I  did  in  those  two  hours,  or  ever  see  such  a  drama 
pass  before  me,  for  being  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  postoffice  there 
were  constantly  passing  in  &  out,  a  mixed  multitude  of  all  ages  sex  & 
condition,  I  amused  myself  by  noticing  them  as  they  passed  while  I  was 
unobserved  in  our  huge  covered  waggon.  Many  of  them  as  they  came 
out  with  a  letter  would  immediately  break  the  seal  and  commence  read- 
ing, although  this  subjected  them  to  be  run  against  by  every  passer  by, 
but  they  did  not  seem  to  heed  it,  and  when  to  much  annoyed  they  would 
lean  against  the  palings  or  set  down  in  some  sheltered  spot.  There  was 
the  man  of  business,  whom  you  could  distinguish  by  his  brisk  walk,  im- 
portant airs,  fine  dress  &  appearence,  he  would  merely  glance  at  the  sig- 
nature, put  it  in  his  pocket,  &  hurry  back  to  his  shop,  but  I  noticed  one 
old  man  as  he  broke  open  his  letter  &  was  reading  it,  appeared  dejected; 
he  would  stop,  and  his  mind  would  seem  abstracted,  for  he  heeded  nothing 
which  passed  arround  him,  it  know  [UO]  doubt  contained  unwelcome  news. 
I  thought  it  might  have  been  the  conduct  of  some  profligate  son,  or  per- 
haps of  some  disaster  which  affected  his  pecuniary  condition.  I  also 
noticed  a  woman  reading  a  letter  as  she  walked  along  leading  a  small 
child,  she  appeared  to  be  about  40  years  of  age,  rather  poorly  clad;  when 
she  broke  the  seal  she  appeared  aggitated,  but  she  had  not  read  far  before 
she  smiled  &  tears  of  joy  ran  down  her  cheeks,  I  could  not  mistake  the 
mother  or  wife  was  there;  &  I  conjectured  with  some  probability  that  it 
was  favorable  news  from  a  husband  or  son  in  California.  But  1  will  not 
attempt  to  discribe  all  I  saw,  but  I  must  say  that  the  noise  &  bustle  of 
those  two  hours  was  enough  to  give  one  the  headache  it  exceeded  that 
of  the  levy  of  New-Orleans. 


CHAPTER  II 
From  St.  Louis  to  St.  Joseph 

At  length  it  was  decided  that  myself  with  the  outfit  should  be  shiped 
on  board  a  steamer  &  sent  to  St.  Joseph,^  accordingly  I  was  conveyed  on 
board  the  Martha  Jewett^  which  was  loading  with  freight  for  that,  & 
intermediate  points,  while  the  men  with  the  team  would  proceed  by  land. 
The  cabin  of  this  well  furnished  &  beautiful  steamer  was  filled  with  pas- 
sengers two  thirds  of  whom  were  for  California. 

[April  22  —  9th  day]     Started  up  the  river  about  2,  o'clock  this  after- 


*  On  the  Missouri  River,  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Joseph. 

'  The  "Martha  Jewett,"  of  which  W.   C.  Jewett  was  master,  began  her  trips  on  the  Missouri  River 
in  1852.     She  was  "one  of  the  finest  and  most  popular  boats  on  the  river  in  her  day." 


8  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

noon,  the  company  being  all  strangers  to  me  I  felt  quite  lonesome,  thought 
much  about  "those  I  left  behind  me." 

[April  23  —  10th  day]  A  man  fell  overboard  this  morning,  he  was  a 
deck  passenger  going  to  California,  broke  two  of  his  ribs,  he  is  not  ex- 
pected to  live,  he  has  no  family  as  I  could  learn,  there  are  about  200 
passengers  on  board  for  California. 

[April  24 — 11th  dayj  The  man  died  last  night,  carried  him  on  to 
Boonville^  &  buried  him,  I  did  not  learn  his  name.  We  got  on  rather 
slowly  for  the  boat  is  very  heavily  laden,  there  is  some  100  head  of  cattle 
horses  &  mules  on  board,  a  good  many  among  whom  were  those  gentle- 
men with  whom  we  had  intended  to  travel  having  shipped  their  teems 
&  waggons  besides  their  other  freight,  &  the  river  is  quite  low. 

[April  25  —  12th  dayj  Sunday  quite  sad  although  there  were  some 
40  ladies  on  board,  I  have  been  reading  the  various  guides  of  the  rout  to 
California,  they  have  not  improved  my  ideas  of  the  pleasure  of  the  trip, 
no  very  flattering  accounts  I  assure  you,  but  hope  we  may  find  it  better, 
not  worse. 

[April  26 —  13th  day]  The  country  along  the  Mississouri  [siq  most 
of  the  way,  is  quite  broken,  &  hilly,  many  of  the  towns  are  small  &  un- 
interesting, but  there  are  some,  though  not  large  which  do  a  great  deal 
of  business.     The  scenery  is  quite  monotonous. 

[April  27  —  14th  day]  Passed  the  wreck  of  the  steamer  Luda,^ 
which  was  blown  up  a  short  time  since,  it  was  a  sad  sight ;  for  nearly  200 
hundred  lives  were  lost  by  that  fatal  accident,  &  the  most  of  them  I  was 
told  were  for  California.  Men  were  at  work  digging  from  the  hulk  (which 
was  nearly  all  that  was  left,  so  great  was  the  explosion)  such  articles  as 
were  of  value,  or  to  ascertain  if  there  were  any  dead  bodies,  to  give  them 
burial.  I  suppose  they  had  found  many  for  they  had  a  line  on  which  was 
hung  promiscuously  men,  women,  &  children's  clothes,  it  made  ones 
heart  ache  to  look  uppon  such  a  sight,  but  what  must  be  the  feelings  of 
those  who  should  recognize  amidst  those  wet  &  muddy  articles,  some  well 
known  garment,  of  relative  or  friend,  whose  body  in  death  lies  sleeping 
beneath  the  turbulent  waters  &  sands,  of  the  Mississouri  [sic].  Passed 
the  town  of  Kanzas,^  here  was  some  60  waggons  of  the  Sante  Fee  traders. 
Saw  several  indians  here,  one  squaw  on  a  beautiful  white  pony.  This  is 
a  pretty  place,  we  also  passed  Ft.  Levenworth*  which  is  pleasantly  situ- 
ated on  an  elevated  plain,  which  affords  a  fine  view,  this  as  its  name 
indicates  is  a  military  station.  Saw  several  of  the  black  war  dogs"  stand- 
ing around  there,  but  I  guess  they  have  very  little  to  bark  at  now. 


*  Boonville,  the  county  seat  of  Cooper  Co.,  Mo. 

*  The  "Saluda,"  a  side-wheel  steamer  with  double  engine  and  two  boilers,  having  a  capacity  of  233 
tons,  was  built  in  1846.  She  exploded  at  Lexington,  Mo.,  on  the  morning  of  April  9,  1852.  only  eighteen 
days  prior  to  the  above  observation  of  Mrs.  Frizzell.  —  Chappell,     History  of  the  Missouri  River,  1906,  p.  52,  74. 

'  Kansas  City. 

*  Fort  Leavenworth,  two  miles  north  of  the  city  of  Leavenworth,  Kan.,  situate  on  Rattlesnake  Hills, 
was  first  occupied  as  a  cantonment  in  1827,  and  became  a  regular  fort  of  the  U.  S.  government  about  1832. 

*  Cannon.  —  Original  note. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  9 

[April  28 —  15th  day^]  Arived  at  St.  Josep[h]  this  evening,  the  banks 
of  the  river  &  all  around  the  town  were  white  with  waggons,  &  tents; 
while  the  people  came  running  down  to  the  wharf  by  hundreds,  a  great 
many  came  on  board  for  their  families,  or  to  look  for  some  expected 
friend ;  they  would  come  to  the  cabin  door,  &  with  an  anxious  looks  sur- 
vey all  within,  but  if  the  ones  they  sought  were  there,  it  was  but  for  a 
moment,  before  the  eye  of  affection  would  recognize,  the  wife  her  hus- 
band, the  daughter  her  father,  the  father  by  his  whole  family  all  rushing 
up  to  him  to  see  who  should  be  first  caressed.  They  soon  all  left  the  boat 
excepting  a  few  I  was  one  as  it  was  now  dark,  &  it  was  reported  that  the 
tavern  were  all  full. 

[April  29  —  16th  dayj  I  left  the  boat  this  morning  with  a  family  with 
whom  I  had  formed  an  agreeable  acquaintance,  who  were  going  to  Cali- 
fornia, &  they  having  accertained  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  boarding 
in  town,  concluded  to  cross  the  river,  &  pitch  their  tent,  &  having  a  good 
sheet  iron  cooking  stove  &  they  would  board  themselves ;  &  as  their  teems 
were  coming  by  land  &  not  expected  for  several  days  I  was  invited  to  go 
over  with  them  which  I  accordingly  did.  We  proceeded  to  the  ferry,  but 
could  not  cross  for  2  hours  for  the  crowd  of  teams  which  were  in  before 
us;  while  waiting  there,  some  200  indians  of  the  Pawtawattimees  &  Win- 
ewbagoes^  came  down  the  street,  affording  me  one  of  the  strangest  sights 
I  ever  saw.  They  were  verry  dark  complected,  quite  black,  half  clothed, 
&  some  few  were  ornamented;  they  had  some  30  or  40  ponies  which 
were  laden  as  I  should  judge  by  the  variety;  with  every  thing  that  they 
possessed;  for  there  were  fastened  on  the  top  of  the  enormous  loads 
which  they  carried,  dogs,  puppies,  paupooses,  chickens,  &  those  who  were 
unable  to  walk  by  reason  of  age  or  infirmity.  One  of  the  puppies  thus 
confined  kept  yelping,  probably  from  hunger,  an  old  indian  perhaps  tired 
of  hearing  it,  or  thinking  that  it  disturbed  us,  steped  up  &  shot  it  in  the 
head  with  a  blunt  arrow  &  killed  it,  and  then  threw  it  in  the  river.  They 
were  in  a  hurry  to  cross  over  and  crowded  down  to  the  waters  edge,  the 
ferrymen  would  not  take  but  a  few  of  them  at  a  time  for  there  was  not 
room  for  the  waggons,  one  old  skuaw  was  as  mad  as  a  wet  hen,  she 
scolded  a  perfect  storm,  one  of  the  men  who  stood  by  understood  her, 
&  interpreted  to  us  what  she  said,  &  it  served  to  amuse  us  not  a  little. 
Our  turn  now  come  we  crossed  over  to  the  wild  and  unhabited  (except 
by  indians)  Territory  of  Nebraska.  We  soon  had  our  tent  up  got  some 
dinner,  the  indians  came  round  the  tent,  some  begging,  some  having  a 
few  articles  to  trade,  and  as  they  concluded  a  bargain  or  "swop"  as  they 
call  it,  they  shake  hands  with  all  around  and  say,  good,  good,  &  then 
depart. 

[April  30 —  17th  daj]  Last  night  I  slept  but  little,  the  indians  had 
encamped  not  far  from  us,  &  they  kept  up  a  constant  singing,  or  howling 

*  Mrs.  Frizzell  made  an  error  at  this  point,  numbering  the  day  as  the  "18th",  instead  of  15th,  which 
led  to  a  misnumbering  throughout.     It  has  been  corrected  here. 
^  Potawatomi  and  Winnebago. 


10  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

for  it  was  the  most  doleful  noise  I  ever  heard,  &  they  were  passing  around 
the  tent,  &  some  would  pull  open  the  door  &  peep  in,  I  knew  they  had 
liquor,  for  I  had  seen  several  of  them  drunk,  I  was  fearful  what  they 
might  do,  the  strangeness  of  the  scene  &  the  wildness  of  the  place,  made 
me  conjure  up  in  my  mind  all  the  indian  massacres  of  which  I  had  ever 
read  or  heard,  but  the  Major ^  &  his  family  slept  soundly,  for  he  had 
been  through  before  consequently  he  heeded  them  not,  nor  did  I  say  a 
word,  but  was  glad  when  day  broke;  my  fears  were  dispelled  with  the 
darkness.  Seated  outside  the  tent  I  was  amused  watching  the  indians 
shoot  with  their  bows  &  arrows  for  5  or  10  cts  that  some  men  would  put 
up  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  them  shoot,  or  looking  at  them  ride  on  their 
ponies  in  a  manner  that  none  but  indians  can;  it  is  a  novel  sight  to  see 
them,  their  faces  painted,  or  tattooed,  wraped  in  their  red  blankets  with 
a  kind  of  cap  on  their  heads,  &  stuck  in  the  top  were  from  one  to  a  dozen 
long  feathers  of  various  colors,  &  by  a  word  to  their  ponies,  for  I  seldom 
see  them  use  a  whip,  they  scamper  away  with  the  speed  of  the  wind. 

[May  1  —  18th  dayj  Teams  crossing  the  river  all  the  while,  but  there 
is  not  half  ferry  boats  enough  here,  great  delay  is  the  consequence,  be- 
sides the  pushing,  &  crowding,  to  see  who  shall  get  across  first.  There 
is  every  description  of  teams  &  waggons ;  from  a  hand  cart  &  wheel- 
barrow, to  a  fine  six  horse  carriage  &  buggie ;  but  more  than  two  thirds 
are  oxen  &  waggons  similar  to  our  own ;  &  by  the  looks  of  their  loads 
they  do  not  intend  to  starve.  Most  of  the  horses,  mules  &  cattle,  are  the 
best  the  states  afford;  they  are  indeed  beautiful,  but  I  fear  some  of  them 
will  share  the  fate  of  the  "gallant  grey"  of  Snowdouns  Knight.^  [May 
2  —  19th  day]  It  being  a  very  pleasant  day  we  walked  out  toward  the 
indian  encampment,  we  saw  a  little  way  to  our  left  a  painted  post,  which 
the  Major  said  denoted  that  an  indian  was  buried  there ;  we  turned 
aside,  found  there  were  two  graves  on[e]  of  quite  recent  date,  &  recolect- 
ing  that  I  had  seen  a  coffin  put  on  the  ferryboat  that  day  I  came  over  I 
supposed  this  to  be  the  same,  deposited  here,  &  that  the  noise  I  heard 
them  making  the  following  night,  was  the  funeral  dirge.  There  was 
one  old  grey  headed  indian  here,  but  on  approach,  he  wraped  his  blanket 
around  him,  &  without  speaking,  or  seeming  to  take  notice  of  us,  walked 
off  into  the  thickets,  &  disappeared.  I  looked  after  him  as  he  turned 
away,  &  felt  as  if  I  was  an  intruder.  There  was  an  air  of  greatness  about 
him,  his  tall  and  erect  figure,  &  noble  features;  he  had  doubtless  sat 
arround  the  council  fires  of  his  tribe  when  they  were  many,  before  the 
white  man  had  reduced  their  numbers  to  a  mere  handful,  &  perhaps  this 
one  now  laid  low,  might  have  been  the  last  belonging  to  him ;  no  doubt 
but  he  could  "a  tale  unfold,"  of  the  events  of  bygone  years.  But  we  pro- 
ceeded onward  &  found  that  they  had  nearly  all  packed  up  and  gone,  some 
of  the  squaws  were  mounted  on  their  little  ponies  2  on  each,  seated  on 


•An   original   note   names  him   "Major   Stemmons,  of   Rockport,   Mo."     This   is  evidently   an   error 
for  summons,  a   family-name  that   is  yet   found   in   Atchison   County. 

*  An  allusion  to  the  Knight  of  Snowdoun  in  Scott's  The  Lady  of  the  Lake. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  H 

Opposite  sides,  so  as  to  ballance.  We  turned  to  the  tent,  heard  that  the 
Majors  teems  had  arrived  in  town,  &  would  be  over  in  the  morning.  [May 
3  —  20th  day]  A  place  having  been  found  at  a  private  house  where  I 
could  be  accommodated  for  a  few  days,  I  recrossed  the  river,  went  to 
the  house  where  I  was  to  stay,  until  the  team  came  which  I  most 
anxiously  wished  for,  as  the  numbers  which  passed  over  dayly,  seemed 
to  me  so  great  that  we  should  be  behind,  for  there  are  a  like  number 
crossing  at  several  other  points  at  the  same  time. 

[May  4  to  7  —  21st  to  24th  days]  Began  to  look  for  the  team,  but 
manny  said,  it  would  take  at  least  18  or  20  days  to  come  from  St.  louis 
here,  looked  quite  hard  to-day. 

[May  8  —  25th  day]  This  morning  I  went  out  walked  up  a  hill  which 
overlooks  the  town  &  river,  never  saw  such  a  bustle,  there  was  a  large 
drove  of  cattle  filling  the  streets  for  some  distance,  which  they  were 
crossing  to  the  other  side  as  fast  as  possible,  with  their  little  boats,  where 
there  should  have  been  at  least  2  good  large  steam  ferry  boats,  &  I  should 
think  that  they  could  afford  to  build  them,  or  charter  them  from  some 
other  ports,  this  I  know  &  all  others  who  have  experienced  it,  that  it  is 
a  great  vexation  to  keep  ones  team  standing  for  a  day  or  two  in  the 
street,  &  watch  your  chance  to  get  ferried  over,  for  the  press  is  so  great 
that  they  will  slip  in  before  you  if  they  can.  I  saw  several  teams  approach- 
ing the  town,  &  I  suppose  I  saw  ours,  for  they  came  in  about  that  time, 
but  I  did  not  see  the  grey  pony  (which  I  afterwards  learned  they  had 
sold  her  back  getting  sore)  nor  the  blue  steer  which  had  died  concluded 
it  was  not  them,  returned  to  the  house,  &  thought  if  it  was  them  they 
would  soon  be  in,  but  as  it  proved  the  letter  which  I  had  deposited  in  the 
P.  O.,  informing  them  of  my  wherebouts,  was  nailed  upon  the  door, 
&  had  been  covered  over  by  others  of  more  recent  date,  I  had  also  left 
word  with  the  commission  merchant  to  whom  the  goods  were  shiped 
that  I  was  going  over  the  river  to  stay  several  days  prehaps  [sic]  until 
they  came;  if  not  I  would  leave  a  line  there,  or  in  the  P.  O.  Loyd  got 
this  word,  &  not  finding  any  line  in  the  office,  immediately  crossed  the 
river  &  searched  for  me  for  several  miles  out  on  the  road. 

[May  9  —  26th  day]  Sunday  I  sat  at  the  window  observing  every 
team  &  every  person,  for  I  thought  surely  they  would  come  to  day,  while 
they  at  the  same  time  were  looking  as  hard  for  me.  Loyd  having  got 
no  tidi[ngS]  of  me  over  the  river;  went  to  every  church  in  the  town,  & 
looked  if  I  was  there,  but  not  seeing  me,  he  went  to  the  P.  O.  once  more, 
&  tearing  off  some  score  of  letters  he  found  the  desired  information,  &  in 
a  few  moments  he  was  at  the  door;  &  "the  lost  was  found,"  all  was  soon 
explained,  we  eat  our  dinner,  which  was  to  be  out  last  at  a  table  for  some 
time.  We  went  down,  crossed  over  the  river,  after  having  procured 
several  articles  to  complete  our  outfit,  found  our  team  already  on  the 
opposite  bank  ready  to  start,  our  other  team  from  Calhoun  Co.^  was  in 

1  Calhoun    Co.,    111. 


12  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

waiting  to  accompany  us,  they  had  fallen  in  company  with  our  folk  & 
George^  being  acquainted  with  them,  &  as  we  had  never  heard  from  Mr. 
Besser  we  were  glad  of  their  company,  but  there  was  no  woman  with 
them,  but  5  men  one  waggon  4  yoke  of  splendid  cattle,  they  were  merry 
fellows  and  as  we  came  up  they  joked  us  not  a  little  about  our  looking  for 
each  other  at  the  same  time.  &  congratulated  us  upon  our  success. 


CHAPTER  III 
From  St.  Joseph  tx)  Ft.  Kearney 

Come  now  with  me  gentle  reader,  and  let  us  cross  the  plains,  I  will 
endeavor  to  show  you  whatever  is  worth  seeing,  &  tell  you  as  much  as 
you  will  care  about  hearing,  while  you  are  comfortably  seated  around 
your  own  fireside,  without  fatiegue,  or  exposure,  I  will  conduct  you  the 
whole  of  this  long  &  weary  journey,  which  I  wish  if  you  should  ever 
in  reality  travel,  that  you  may  feel  no  more  fatiegue  than  you  do  at  the 
presant  moment,  but  I  fear  that  you  would,  as  you  yourself  will  probably 
admit  before  the  close  of  this  narative.  This  is  considered  th[e]  starting 
point  ^  from  this  river  is  time  reconed,  &  it  matters  not  how  far  you  have 
come,  this  is  the  point  to  which  they  all  refer,  for  the  question  is  never, 
when  did  you  leave  home?  but,  when  did  you  leave  the  Mississouri  [sic] 
river?  Our  team  looked  bad  one  ox  had  died,  the  roads  through  Missouri 
were  muddy  &  bad.  It  was  about  2  o'clock  as  we  started  out  through 
the  heavy  timbered  bottom  which  extends  back  some  7  or  8  miles  from  the 
river,  &  which  was  to  be  the  last  of  any  note  until  we  reached  the  Siera 
Nevada  Mts.  It  seems  hard  to  believe,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that 
this  immence  distance  is  nearly  destitute  of  timber,  particularly  near  the 
road.  It  comenced  raining  a  little,  we  reached  the  outskirts  of  the  tim- 
ber, called  the  bluffs,  as  the  land  raises  here,  we  encamped  pitched  our 
tent,  soon  had  a  large  fire,  got  supper,  turned  the  cattle  out  to  graze  on 
the  grass  &  bushes,  for  they  were  vary  hungry  &  devoured  whatever 
came  in  their  way,  they  soon  filled  themselves  &  they  were  drove  up  & 
tied  each  one  by  a  rope,  to  the  waggon,  or  bushes  nearby.  There  were 
several  campfires  burning  in  sight,  we  at  length  went  to  bed,  Loyd  & 
I  occupied  the  waggon,  while  the  boys  slept  in  the  tent,  I  had  bought 
rag  carpet  enough  to  spread  over  the  ground  in  the  tent  which  proved 
excellent  for  keeping  the  wet,  or  sand,  from  getting  on  the  bedding,  which 
consisted  of  buffalo  robes  &  blankets,  which  I  considder  the  best  for  this 
journey,  as  they  keep  cleaner  &  do  not  get  damp  so  easily  as  cotton  quilts. 

[May  10  —  27th  day]  Stayed  in  camp  to-day  unloaded  our  waggon 
put  every  thing  that  it  was  possible  in  sacks  leaving  our  trunk  chest, 
barrels  &  boxes,  which  relieved  the  waggon,  of  at  least,  300  lbs,  besides 
it  was  much  more  conveniently  packed.  Water  being  handy,  we  washed 
up  all  our  things  &  prepared  to  start  soon  in  the  morning.    A  boy  about 


'  One  of  her  sons. 
>St.  Joseph,  Mo. 


/"""M    - 


THREE  ROUTE  MAPS 

St.  Joseph  to  Ft.  Kearny— Ft.  Kearny  to  Ft.  Laramie 

Ft.  Laramie  to  South  Pass 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  13 

12  years  old  came  to  our  tent  poorly  clad,  he  said  he  was  going  back,  I 
asked  him  several  questions,  &  learned  that  he  had  ran  away  from  his 
folks  who  lived  in  the  eastern  part  of  Ohio,  had  got  his  passage  from  one 
Steamboat  to  another,  until  he  had  reached  St.  Jo.^  &  then  had  got  in  with 
some  one  to  go  to  California,  but  he  said  they  would  not  let  him  go  any 
further,  &  sent  him  back,  I  gave  him  something  to  eat  &  told  him  to 
go  back  to  his  parents,  I  know  not  where  he  went  but  from  his  tale  this 
was  not  the  first  time  that  he  had  ran  away  from  home.  What  a  grief 
to  parents  must  such  children  be. 

[May  11  — 28th  dayj  Fine  morning,  started  out  on  the  Plain  which 
appeared  boundless,  stretching  away  to  the  south  &  covered  with  excel- 
lent grass  5  or  6  inches  high,  but  they  were  not  near  so  level  as  I  had 
supposed,  quite  undulating  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  when  subsiding 
from  a  storm,  In  6  or  8  ms,^  we  came  to  where  there  was  a  general  halt, 
some  dozen  teams  standing  here  waiting  to  cross  a  deep  slue^^  in  which 
one  team  &  waggon  were  stuck  &  were  obliged  to  unload  part  of  their 
goods,  it  being  difficult  to  attatch  more  team  to  it  where  it  then  was, 
some  others  taking  the  precaution  doubled  theirs  before  starting  in,  but 
noticed  that  the  great  difficulty  was  in  the  cattle  not  pulling  together,  we 
drove  in  just  above  them,  passed  over,  went  on  our  way  which  for  many 
miles  is  often  in  sight  of  the  Mississouri  [sic]  river  and  the  highlands  on 
the  opposite  bank  to  the  cultivated  fields  of  which  I  often  turned  a  "lin- 
giring  look"  which  is  the  last  I  have  as  yet  seen,  or  may  see  for  some 
time,  with  one  exception  which  I  shall  soon  relate.  We  met  two  or  three 
Indians,  saw  a  fresh  made  grave,  a  feather  bed  lying  upon  it,  we  afterwards 
learned  that  a  man  &  his  wife  had  both  died  a  few  days  before,  &  were 
hurried  together  here,  they  left  2  small  children,  which  were  sent  back 
to  St.  Joseph  by  an  indian  chief.  We  now  came  to  Wolf  creek,*  a  small 
stream  but  very  steep  banks,  the  indians  have  constructed  a  kind  of  bridge 
over  it,  &  charged  50  cts  per  waggon,  there  were  several  of  them  here, 
quite  fine  looking  fellows,  not  near  so  dark  as  those  I  had  seen,  but  of 
the  real  copper  color,  said  they  were  of  the  Sacs  &  Fox  tribes.^  One  was  a 
chief,  he  was  dressed  in  real  indian  stile,  had  his  hair  shaved  off  all  except 
the  crown  lock,  which  was  tied  up  &  ornamented  with  beads  &  feathers, 
he,  &  one  or  two  others,  had  various  trinkits  upon  their  arms,  legs,  & 
heads,  but  their  main  dress  was  their  bright  red  blankets.  There  were 
several  teams  here,  which  were  passing  over  before  us,  when  one  of  the 
teams  getting  stalled  on  the  opposite  bank,  which  was  steep  &  muddy, 
a  little  pert  looking  indian  jumped  up  comenced  talking  &  jesticulating  in 
great  earnest;  on  inquiring  what  it  was  he  said?  an  interpreter  nearby 
said,  he  was  saying  to  the  driver,  that  if  he  could  not  go  through  there  he 
could  not  go  to  California,  he  had  better  go  back  home.    We  passed  over 

^  St.   Joseph,   Mo. 

^  Abbreviation   used   throughout   for   "miles." 

'  A   variant   of   "slough." 

*  Wolf  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Missouri,  rises  in  Brown  Co.  and  runs  through  Doniphan  Co.,  Kan. 

'  Sauk  and  Fox,  from  this  northeastern  section  of  Kansas. 


14  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

when  our  turn  came,  &  went  a  short  distance  up  the  stream,  &  encamped; 
having  come  about  20  ms,  fine  grass  here,  &  some  small  timber  along 
the  banks  of  this  creek,  I  had  a  severe  headache  this  evening,  our  folks 
having  got  their  supper,  they  were  soon  seated  around  a  blazing  fire,  & 
were  soon  joined  by  several  indians,  who  likewise  seated  themselves  by 
the  fire,  &  as  one  of  them  could  speak  a  little  English,  they  kept  up  quite 
a  conversation.  They  said  they  no  steal  white  mans  cattle,  they  good 
indian,  but  the  Pawnee  he  bad  indian,  he  steal,  no  good,  Loyd  gave  them 
a  drink  of  brandy  which  when  they  had  tasted,  said  strong,  strong,  but 
smacked  their  lips  as  if  it  was  not  stronger  than  they  liked.  I  lay  in  the 
waggon  looked  out  upon  this  group,  which  as  the  glare  of  the  fire  fell 
on  the  grim  visages,  &  bare,  brawny  arms,  &  naked  bodies;  having  noth- 
ing on  the  upper  part  of  the  body  but  their  loose  blanket,  &  as  they  move 
their  arms  about  when  speaking,  their  bodies  are  half  naked  most  of  the 
time,  the  contrast  was  striking  between  their  wild  looks  &  savage  dress, 
to  the  familiar  faces  of  our  own  company,  &  their  civilized  dress  and 
speech.  [May  12  —  29th  day]  I  felt  quite  well  this  morning,  we  soon 
dispatched  our  breakfast,  yoked  up  our  cattle  which  were  as  full  as 
ticks,  started  out  into  the  broad  road,  or  roads,  for  here  there  are  several 
tracks,  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  horse,  or  mule  teams  to  go  around, 
which  will  be  quite  different  when  we  come  to  the  Mountains,  we  passed 
the  indian  mission,^  where  there  are  several  hundred  acers  of  land  cul- 
tivated by  indians  under  the  superintendince  of  the  missionaries.  Rested 
our  teams  at  noon,  took  a  lunch,  went  on  some  10  miles  farther  [sic], 
&  encamped,  where  there  was  good  grass,  but  very  little  water  &  no 
wood,  we  succeeded  in  boiling  the  tea  kettle,  &  making  some  coffee,  & 
having  plenty  of  bread,  meat,  &  crackers,  fruit  pickles,  &c,  we  done  very 
well  for  supper,  it  was  quite  cold  tonight,  but  slept  well  till  morning. 

[May  13  —  30th  day]  Started  out  soon  this  morning,  passed  several 
graves,  we  hear  that  it  is  sickly  on  the  route,  that  there  are  cholera,  small- 
pox, &  measles,  but  rumor  says  so  much,  that  you  do  not  know  when  to 
believe  her,  but  the  graves  prove  that  some  have  died,  &  it  must  be  ex- 
pected that  from  such  a  number,  some  would  die;  but  it  is  very  sad  to 
part  with  them  here,  for  the  heart  can  hardly  support  the  addition,  of  so 
much  grief,  for  there  are  few  whose  hearts  are  not  already  pained,  by 
leaving  so  many  behind.  We  came  to  another  indian  toll  bridge,  which 
crossed  a  small  ravine,  charged  but  25  cts,  two  indians  here,  went  on  till 
near  night  and  encamped  for  the  night,  very  good  place,  in  a  hollow  to 
the  left  of  the  road.  George  caught  some  small  fish  with  a  pinhook. 
[May  14  —  31st  day]  Soon  in  the  morning  we  renewed  our  journey, 
through  a  fine  rotting^  prairie,  small  groves  of  timber  along  the  water 
courses,  giving  the  landscape  a  very  picturesque  appearance;  saw  several 
graves  to  day,  passed  where  they  were  burying  a  man,  crossed  the  little 

*  This  seems  to  refer  to  the  Presbyterian  mission  among  the  lowas  and  the  Sauk  and  Fox,  established 
in  1837,  near  the  present  town  of  Highland,  Doniphan  Co.,  Kan. 

*  So  in  the  original  and  evidently  an  error  for  "rolling"  or  undulating. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  15 

Nimahaw/  a  fine  stream,  encamped  on  the  bank.  We  had  not  been  here 
long,  when  a  little  white  calf  came  up  to  us  out  of  the  bushes,  &  appeared 
very  hungry;  it  had  probably  been  left  on  purpose,  though  most  of  them 
are  gennerally  killed,  but  he  might  have  been  hid  in  the  bushes,  &  people 
are  not  very  tenderhearted  on  this  journey,  but  he  reminded  me  so  much 
of  home  I  would  not  let  them  shoot  it ;  we  left  it  there  to  be  devoured  by 
wolves,  or  die  of  hunger,  or  be  killed  by  some  one  else.  [May  15  —  32d 
(Jay]  We  renewed  our  journey,  when  about  noon  it  commenced  to  rain 
we  turned  down  to  the  right,  &  encamped,  it  continuing  rainy,  we  staid 
till  next  day;  here  was  a  small  stream  full  of  little  fishes,  which  if  we  had 
had  a  small  sceine,  we  might  have  caught  any  amount;  but  we  had  not 
so  much  as  a  fish  hook,  which  we  had  forgoten  to  provide. 

[May  16  —  33d  day]  Crossed  the  Big  Nimahaw,^  nooned  here,  there 
were  so  many  teams  here  crossing  that  we  had  to  wait  some  2  hours,  for 
many  would  not  go  through,  until  they  had  doubled  their  team;  but  we 
crossed  with  our  4  yoke  of  small  cattle,  &  the  largest  waggon  there,  with- 
out any  difficulty,  but  a  little  snug  pulling;  George  said  we  done  it  easy; 
our  team  is  certainly  no.  1.  This  is  a  fine  mill  stream,  some  very  good 
timber  on  its  banks,  &  as  rich  prairie  around  as  I  ever  saw,  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  settled  some  day.  We  passed  the  junction 
of  the  Indipendence  road,^  there  was  as  many  teems  in  sight,  as  on  ours, 
&  their  track  looked  about  the  same.  Saw  a  fine  sheet  iron  stove  sitting 
beside  the  road,  took  it  along  cooked  in  it  that  night,  &  then  left  it ;  for 
they  are  of  very  little  account,  unless  you  could  have  dry  wood.  We  met 
a  man  who  was  driving  several  cows,  the  men  in  the  other  waggon  recog- 
nized 4  of  them,  belonging  to  a  man  from  their  country,  with  whom  they 
had  intended  to  travel.  They  asked  the  man  where  was  the  owner  of  the 
cows?  &  why  he  was  driving  them  back?  he  said  first  that  he  was  the 
owner,  &  that  he  had  bought  them ;  but  as  he  could  not  tell  where  the 
man  was,  nor  discribe  him,  they  concluded  he  had  no  right  to  them;  & 
f inaly  he  said  them  four  he  had  found,  &  they  took  them  away  from  him ; 
&  as  one  of  them  gave  milk,  we  were  enable[d]  to  live  quite  well ;  &  I  would 
advise  all  to  take  cows  on  this  trip,  if  you  used  the  milk  only  to  make 
bread,  for  you  can  do  very  little  with  yeast,  &  the  soda  &  cream  tarter 
I  do  not  like. 

[May  17  —  34th  day]  We  went  on  through  a  rich  &  fertile  country, 
&  encamped  some  2  ms  to  the  left  of  the  road,  in  one  of  the  most  wild 
and  romantic  places  I  ever  saw ;  the  wolves  howled  around  the  tent  nearly 
all  night,  I  could  not  sleep  soundly,  therefor  dreamed  of  being  attacted 
by  bears,  &  wolves;  when  the  sharp  bark  of  one,  close  to  the  waggon, 
would  rouse  me  from  my  fitful  slumbers  but  the  rest  slept  so  soundly, 

*  The  Little  Nemaha  R.,  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  Nebraska,  and  empties  into  the  Missouri 
seven  miles  below   Brownsville. 

^  Nemaha  or  Big  Nemaha  R.,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Nebraska,  emptying  into  the  Missouri 
two  miles  below  Rulo. 

*  This  is  a  mistake,  did  not  pass  it  till  2  days  afterwards.  —  Original  note. 


16  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

that  they  hardly  heard  them ;  for  people  sleep  in  general  very  sound,  on 
this  trip,  for  being  tired  at  night,  they  feel  like  reposing. 

[May  18  —  35th  day]  Proceeded  onward,  crossed  the  Big  Blue 
river ^  there  was  a  ferry  here,  but  we  forded  it,  although  it  came  near 
running  into  our  waggon  bed;  came  on  some  11,  ms.  father  [sic],  &  en- 
camped, to  the  left,  down  in  a  hollow  where  there  was  small  stream; 
Here^  a  doctor  from  the  same  place  of  those  men  who  were  travelling 
with  us,  came  up,  he  had  started  to  pack  through  with  2  horses,  but  soon 
getting  tired  of  it,  he  had  let  a  man  have  one  of  the  horses,  &  provisions, 
to  take  him  through  :  but  he  said  they  soon  wanted  him  to  help  about  every 
thing  &  he  got  tired  of  it;  &  offered  to  go  through  with  them,  &  cook  for 
them,  they  concented,  as  one  of  their  company  had  gone  back  which  I 
had  forgotten  to  mention,  for  we  meet  some  going  back  every  day,  some 
have  been  sick,  some  say  that  they  are  carrying  the  mail ;  but  there  is  most 
to  great  a  number  for  that  purpose.  [May  19  —  36th  day]  Beautiful 
morning  the  Dr.  said  I  could  ride  his  horse  if  I  liked,  &  having  my  saddle 
yet,  I  gladly  excepted  it;  for  it  is  tiresome  riding  in  the  waggon  all  the 
while,  &  every  waggon  should  be  provided,  with  at  least  one  good  horse, 
for  the  company  to  ride  when  they  are  weary,  or  when  they  wish  to  go  out 
&  hunt ;  for  it  is  very  hard  to  go  off  from  the  road  a  hunting,  &  perhaps 
kill  some  game,  &  then  have  it  to  carry  &  overtake  the  teams ;  for  as  slow 
a[S]  an  ox  teem  may  seem  to  move,  they  are  very  hard  to  catch  up  with, 
when  you  fall  behind  an  hour  or  two.  and  you  need  a  horse  also,  to  ride 
through  &  drive  the  team  in  all  bad  places,  &  to  get  up  your  cattle  with- 
out getting  your  feet  wet,  by  wading  in  water  or  dew;  if  such  exposures 
as  these  were  avoided,  I  do  not  think  there  would  be  as  much  sickness 
as  there  usually  is,  along  here,  for  we  have  not  passed  less  than  100  fresh 
graves  from  St.  Joseph  to  the  Blue  river.  See  some  dead  stalk,  the  wolves 
have  a  feast,  hope  they  will  not  disturb  the  graves.  [May  20  —  37th  day] 
We  travel  about  20  ms.  a  day  our  cattle  are  thriving,  look  well;  but  this 
Gy[P]sy  life  is  anything  but  agreeable,  it  is  impossible  to  keep  anything 
clean,  &  it  is  with  great  dificulty  that  you  do  what  little  you  have  to  do. 
Turned  down  to  the  left;  tolerable  grass  only;  here  we  saw  the  first 
buffalo  sign;  the  wolves  kept  barking  all  night.  [May  21  —  38th  day] 
Raining  some,  came  7  or  8  ms,  the  rain  still  continuing,  we  put  up  for  the 
day,  down  to  the  left,  near  a  dry  sandy  creek,  here  was  a  fresh  grave ;  there 
being  some  timber  along  this  creek,  we  soon  had  a  large  fire,  &  prepared 
our  dinner.  We  have  not  as  yet  seen  any  game,  &  a  fishhook  would  have 
been  of  more  service  so  far,  than  half  a  dozen  guns.  The  weather  is  quite 
cold,  need  overcoats,  &  mittens.  [May  22  —  39th  day]  Again  we  get 
up  the  cattle  &  start  on;  the  land  here  is  poor,  the  country  flat,  &  grass 
only  in  places,  the  road  is  very  crooked  thus  far;  for  the  track  runs 


1  The  Big  Blue  R.,  an  affluent  of  the  Kansas  R.,  rising  in  Nebraska  and  running  nearly  southward 
into    Kansas. 

'  This  is  a  mistake  —  did  not  join  us  till  3  days  after  this.  —  Original  note.  This  doctor's  name  is 
nowhere  given  in  her  journal. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  17 

wherever  it  is  nearest  level.  We  encamped  on  the  Little  blue,^  which  we 
had  been  following  up  for  the  last  3  or  4  days,  it  is  a  poor  place  for  grass. 
Some  teams  turned  back  a  day  or  two  since,  &  one  old  lady  said  we  had 
all  better  turn  back,  for  if  the  grass  began  to  give  out  now,  what  would 
become  of  us  if  we  went  on  until  our  teams  were  not  able  to  take  us  back ; 
she  said  she  was  going  back,  for  she  had  made  a  living  before  she  had 
ever  heard  of  California,  &  the  rest  might  go  on  &  starve  their  teams  to 
death  if  they  liked.  Saw  the  heads  of  [Sjeveral  fine  large  fish  lying  here, 
but  could  not  catch  any  with  a  pin  hook.  [May  23  —  40th  day]  After 
some  difficulty,  we  got  our  cattle  from  the  other  side  of  the  river,  where 
they  had  strayed  during  the  night,  but  when  we  found  they  were  across, 
some  of  the  men  went  over  &  watched  them,  which  was  the  first  time 
we  had  watched  them,  but  being  now  in  the  Pawnee  country  we  were 
a  little  afraid  they  might  be  stolen,  but  we  did  not  see  one  of  these  indians, 
some  said  it  was  because  they  were  afraid  of  the  smallpox.  We  passed 
a  spot  where  there  was  a  board  put  up,  &  this  information  upon  it,  that 
a  man  was  found  here  on  the  17th,  horribly  murdered,  with  wounds  of  a 
knife,  &  buckshot,  his  shirt  was  lying  there,  with  the  blood  &  wounds 
upon  it,  he  was  buried  near  by,  it  stated  by  whom  &c.  I  have  never 
learned  any  more,  but  I  hope  the  murderer  may  meet  his  reward,  sooner 
or  later.  [May  24  —  41st  day]  The  day  being  clear  &  still,  as  we  passed 
over  the  16  mile  desert,  to  the  head  waters  of  the  L.  Blue^;  we  saw  a 
mirage,  at  first  we  thought  we  were  near  a  pond  of  water  which  we  saw 
just  over  the  ridge,  &  remarked  that  the  guide  had  said  there  was  no 
water  here ;  but  when  we  came  near,  it  was  gone,  and  then  suspecting  what 
it  was,  we  looked  around  (for  here  you  can  see  any  distance  in  all  direc- 
tions) we  saw  beautiful  streams,  bordered  with  trees,  small  lakes,  with 
islands,  &  once  on  looking  back,  we  saw  several  men  in  the  road,  who 
looked  to  be  15  ft  tall,  &  once  or  twice  we  saw  what  appeared  to  be  large 
&  stately  buildings.  Met  a  company  of  fur  traders  with  16  waggons 
loaded  with  buffalo  robes,  they  were  very  singular  in  appearence  looking 
like  so  many  huge  elephants,  &  the  men,  except  2,  were  half  breeds;  & 
indians,  &  a  rougher  looking  set,  I  never  saw;  &  their  teams  which  were 
cattle,  looked  about  used  up ;  quite  warm  to  day,  crossed  the  last  branch 
of  the  Little  Blue,  it  was  dry  and  good  crossing,  we  went  on  some  3  miles, 
and  encamped  near  some  small  ponds  of  water,  no  wood,  only  what  we 
could  find  at  old  camping  places;  we  had  brought  a  little  water  in  our 
kegs,  made  some  coffe[e],  &  just  as  we  were  done  supper,  the  sun  was 
declining  in  the  west,  making  thing[S]  appear  very  distinctly  on  the  hori- 
zon, when  there  was  an  animal  discovered,  feeding  on  the  plain,  not 
far  distant.  2  of  our  men  went  in  persuit,  and  after  some  time,  returned 
with  a  quarter  of  fresh  meat,  which  they  said  was  antelope;  but  asking 
them  why  they  did  not  bring  more,  &  they  making  rather  a  vague  reply. 


^  The  Little  Blue  R.  rises  in  the  southern  part  of  Nebraska,  runs  through  Jefferson  Co.,  thence  into 
the  State  of  Kansas,  and  empties  into  the  Big  Blue  R.  in  Marshall  Co.,  of  that  state. 
*  Little   Blue   R. 


18  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

and  not  being  anyways  anxious  to  have  any  of  it  cooked,  &  from  certain 
sly  looks  which  they  exchanged,  I  began  to  think  something  was  wrong 
about  it,  at  length  one  went  out  in  the  morning  [May  25  —  42nd  day]  and 
found  it  to  be  an  old  sheep  left  from  some  drove,  which  was  probably 
unable  to  travel,  but  the  sport  was  that  they  thinking  it  was  an  antelope, 
and  it  being  so  dark  that  they  could  not  see  distinctly,  &  knowing  that 
they  were  hard  to  get  a  shot  at,  they  crept  on  their  hands  &  knees  for  some 
distance,  both  fired  at  the  same  time,  &  shot  the  poor  sheep  through  & 
through;  but  to  turn  the  joke,  they  brought  up  a  piece,  to  have  the  Dr. 
&  me^  cook  some  of  it,  but  failed.  This  made  us  something  to  joke  & 
laugh  about  for  some  time,  for  it  is  seldom  that  you  meet  with  anything 
for  merriment,  on  this  journey.  We  reached  the  Platte  river,^  after  a 
hard  days  drive,  although  the  sand  hills  which  were  in  sight,  soon  after 
we  started  in  the  morning;  did  not  seem  to  be,  but  2  or  3  ms.  distant.  Saw 
several  antelope  but  could  not  get  a  shot  at  them  it  being  so  level,  There 
is  no  wood  here,  except  what  is  procured  from  the  island,  the  river  was 
not  fordable  at  this  time,  but  some  swam  accross  on  horseback  &  pro- 
cured some ;  but  with  much  difficulty  and  danger,  the  current  being  very 
swift,  &  the  bottom  quicksand;  we  contented  ourselves  with  a  few  wil- 
low bushes;  there  were  some  buffalo  chips,  but  we  had  not  as  yet  got 
in  the  way  of  using  them.  [May  26  —  43d  day]  We  are  about  5,  ms  be- 
low Ft.  Karney.^  Several  indians  of  the  Sioux  tribe  came  to  our  tent, 
the  best  looking  indians  I  ever  saw,  they  were  tall,  strongly  made,  firm 
features,  light  copper  color,  cleanly  in  appearance,  quite  well  dressed  in 
red  blankets,  and  highly  ornamented,  with  bows  and  arrows  in  their 
hands.  We  gave  them  some  crackers  &  coffee,  with  which  they  seemed 
very  much  pleased.  They  signified  that  they  wished  to  trade,  &  pointing 
of  to  the  right,  we  saw,  many  more  indians  seated  on  the  ground  not 
far  distant,  with  some  20  ponies  feeding  around  them,  as  we  started  out 
there,  we  saw  a  train  of  waggons  which  were  passing,  halt,  &  appear  to 
be  perplexed,  we  soon  saw  the  cause,  a  huge  indian,  naked  to  his  waist, 
with  a  drawn  sword,  brandishing  it  in  the  road,  &  seemed  to  say,  "stand 
&  deliver."  But  when  we  came  up,  he  signified  that  he  wished  to  trade, 
but  they  wishing  to  proceed,  &  not  wanting  to  be  detained,  they  gave 
him  some  crackers  &c,  each  waggon  as  they  passed,  throwing  him  some- 
thing on  a  blanket,  which  he  had  spread  on  the  ground  beside  the  road; 
but  I  saw  the  indians  chuckle  to  one  another,  upon  the  success  of  the  old 
chiefs  maneuver.  This  old  chief  accompanied  us  to  the  rest  of  the  indians, 
&  he  gave  the  doctor  a  buffalo  robe  for  his  vest,  which  he  immediately 
put  on,  buttoned  it  up,  and  appeared  much  pleased  with  his  bargain;  but 
not  better  than  the  doctor  did  with  his.     We  also  got  a  very  fine  robe, 


'  These   words   are   partly   erased   in   the   original   manuscript. 

'  The  Platte  or  Nebraska  R.,  and  well-known  affluent  of  the  Missouri  R.  Her  description  is  similar 
to  Fremont's,  in  his  first  exploration  of  ten  years  earlier.  —  Fremont.     Report.     Washington,  184S,  p.  16. 

*  Fort  Kearny,  Nebraska,  named  after  Col.  Stephen  W.  Kearny  who,  in  1845,  conducted  the  first 
military  expedition  through  the  West,  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  to  the  South  Pass  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  It  was  at  first  named  Fort  Childs,  in  honor  of  Gen.  Thomas  Childs,  of  the  Mexican  War. 
The  post  was  abandoned  permanently  in  1871. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  19 

for  a  bridle  &  mantingals  [sic],  which  were  not  very  new.  We  struck  our 
tent,  moved  on  up  to  the  fort;  there  are  2  or  3  good  frame  building  here, 
saw  some  children  playing  in  the  porch  of  one  of  them,  suppose  there 
are  some  families  here  but  the  barracks  &  magazines  are  mostly  built  of 
turf;  the  place  is  not  inclosed,  &  presents  no  striking  appearance,  but  we 
liked  to  look  at  a  house  as  it  had  been  some  time  since  we  had  seen  one, 
and  would  be  some  time  before  we  should  see  another.  They  kept  a 
register  here,  of  the  number  of  waggons  which  passed,  there  had  then 
passed  2657,  &  as  many  waggons  pass  without  touching  here,  I  do  not 
think  they  can  keep  a  correct  account,  &  I  do  not  think  they  try  to  get  the 
number  of  those  that  pass  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  for  it  would  be 
difficult  to  do.  Opposite  the  town,  &  extending  up  &  down  the  river  for 
16  or  18  ms,  is  an  island,^  it  is  covered  with  a  fine  growth  of  cottonwood 
timber,  I  was  struck  with  its  appearance  with  the  mirage  which  I  had  seen 
on  the  plain,  &  believe  it  the  same  reflected  by  the  atmosphere. 


CHAPTER  IV 
From  Ft.  Kerney  to  Ft.  Larimie 

Leaving  our  letters  in  the  P.  O.  went  on  some  10  or  12  ms.  &  stoped 
for  the  night,  there  was  no  wood,  &  was  not  likely  to  be  fore  some  dis- 
tance according  to  the  guides.  [May  27  —  44th  day]  The  grass  being 
poor,  &  no  wood,  &  believing  that  it  was  better  on  the  north  side,  &  I 
guess  our  cattle  thought  so  too,  for  they  all  got  into  the  river  last  night 
&  started  to  swim  across,  but  after  a  while  they  give  it  up  &  come  out. 
we  concluded  to  cross  the  river  at  the  first  ford  we  came  to.  We  had 
proceded  some  4  or  5  ms.  up  the  river;  when  we  saw  several  waggons 
standing  on  the  bank,  &  the  men  watching  something  in  the  water;  we 
soon  saw  there  was  a  waggon  &  team  fording  the  river,  we  could  hardly 
descerne  the  team  which  was  nearly  under  the  water,  and  the  waggon 
looked  like  a  little  boat,  it  was  preceeded  by  two  men  on  horseback,  who 
rode  side  by  side,  surveying  out  the  ford  &  marking  it  by  sticking  up  little 
sticks  in  the  sand;  we  watched  them  till  they  were  safely  across,  &  the 
pilots  had  returned,  but  there  was  a  board  stuck  up  here  which  informed 
us,  that  the  ford  was  safe,  &  that  a  large  train  had  passed  the  day  before. 
I  felt  a  little  nervous  when  we  were  about  to  cross,  for  the  river  here  is 
all  of  one  mile  &  a  half  wide,  &  a  more  foaming  madening  river  I  never 
saw,  &  its  banks  being  very  low,  &  the  water  the  color  of  soapsuds  you 
cannot  see  the  bottom  where  it  is  not  more  than  six  inches  deep,  conse- 
quently looks  as  deep  as  the  Missouri  when  it  is  bank  full,  &  the  many 
islands  &  bars  which  obstruct  this  swift  current  makes  an  awful  noise, 
you  cannot  make  a  person  hear  you,  when  you  are  in  the  river,  at  5  yds. 
distant ;  and  I  call  this  one  of  the  greatest  adventures  on  the  whole  route, 

^  Judging  from  the  length  of  miles,  the  reference  seems  to  be  to  the  group  of  islands  of  which  Long 
Island,   opposite    Kearney,   Neb.,   is   the   largest. 


20  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

for  from  the  quicksands  giving  away  under  the  waggon  wheels,  there 
is  danger  of  upsetting,  which  would  be  a  very  great  disaster  indeed. 
Blocking  up  our  waggon  bed,  we  started  in,  for  our  cattle  do  not  mind 
mud,  or  water,  the  men  with  their  coats,  hats,  &  boots  off,  with  a  kerchief 
around  their  heads,  with  whip  in  hand,  into  the  Platte  river  we  go;  but 
we  are  only  one  team  in  20  that  is  now  in  the  river,  making  a  line  from 
bank  to  bank;  we  were  about  2  hours  in  crossing,  &  I  do  not  think  our 
team  pulled  as  hard  &  for  so  long  a  time  on  the  road,  at  any  place;  for 
our  waggon  was  heavy  loaded  with  about  15  hundred  lbs,  &  the  wheels 
sunk  in  the  sand  about  6  inches  most  of  the  way,  but  we  did  not  stop 
but  once,  for  fear  the  waggon  would  get  fast  in  the  yielding  sands,  for 
there  were  2  or  3  teams  stuck,  when  we  crossed,  2  were  mule  teams,  their 
feet  being  so  small  they  sank  in  the  sands  &  could  not  pull  out;  but  when 
we  got  across,  one  of  the  men  who  traveled  with  us,  went  back  &  pulled 
out  one  team ;  but  there  was  no  one  anxious  to  go  in  a  second  time.  There 
being  abundance  of  grass  here,  we  turned  out  our  cattle  after  they  had 
rested  a  little,  but  there  was  know  [UO]  wood,  so  after  changing  their 
clothes,  &  passing  around  the  brandy  freely;  we  hiched  up  an  went  on 
some  4  miles  father  [sic]  up  the  river,  &  encamped  in  a  beautiful  place, 
on  the  bank  of  a  stream  called  Elm  creek,^  under  the  shade  of  two  large 
elm  trees;  here  was  good  grass,  plenty  of  the  best  of  wood,  &  some  water, 
for  the  creek  was  very  low,  &  as  the  sun  was  3  hours  high  or  more,  some 
went  out  a  hunting  while  the  old  Dr^  Beth  &  I  went  to  cooking,  we  soon 
had  the  best  of  a  fire,  cooked  some  meat  &  beens,  stewed  some  apples  & 
peaches,  boiled  some  rice,  &  baked  buiscuit,  &  fried  some  crulls,  &  as  I 
had  a  glass  pickle  jar  full  of  sour  milk,  &  plenty  of  salaratus,  I  had  as 
fine  cakes  as  if  I  had  been  at  home;  &  when  they  returned  in  the  evening 
we  had  a  general  feast ;  for  we  had  had  no  wood  to  cook  with  before  for 
several  days,  the  men  had  seen  plenty  of  game  but  the  time  did  not  permit 
of  their  pursuing  it,  saw  also  deer  Elk  and  buffalo  tracks.  [May  28  —  45th 
day]  We  started  out,  but  I  would  gladly  have  stayed  today,  rested  & 
cooked  some  more,  for  the  guides  said  we  would  have  no  more  wood  for 
200  ms,  &  we  must  now  take  to  "picking  up  chips."  ^  When  a  few  miles 
out  we  came  to  a  very  bad  slue,  deep  &  muddy,  it  would  be  a  fortune  to 
some  one  to  bridge  it,  it  could  be  easily  done,  for  it  is  not  wide  &  the 
timber  could  be  had  on  Elm  creek  which  is  but  a  few  miles  back,  &  any 
one  would  rather  pay  a  reasonable  toll,  than  to  pull  his  team  (cattle)  so 
hard.  Saw  several  head  of  stalk  [i.  e.,  stock]  which  had  give  out,  one  old 
cow  by  the  road  with  a  paper  pined  on  her  head,  it  stated  that  she  had 
been  left  to  die,  but  if  anyone  choose,  they  might  have  her,  but  requested 
that  they  would  not  abuse  her  as  she  had  been  one  of  the  best  of  cows,  she 
looked  so  pittiful,  &  it  called  up  so  many  assotiations  in  my  mind  that 


*  Elm  Creek,  a  northern  affluent  of  the  Platte  River,  west  of  Fort  Kearny,  in  the  present  Dawson 
Co.,  Neb. 

'  The  doctor's  name  is  nowhere  revealed.     Beth  was  one  of  her  sons. 

*  Buffalo-chips,  the  dried  dung  of  the  American  bison. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  21 

it  affected  me  to  tears.  Drove  on  and  encamped;  turned  out  the  cattle 
&  put  up  the  tent,  then  for  a  fire,  no  wood,  but  chips  in  abundance,  no 
alternative,  soon  had  a  large  pile  of  them,  &  set  fire  to  them,  when  they 
immediately  blazed  up  &  burned  like  dry  bark,  it  was  laughable  to  see 
the  boys  jump  around  it,  particularly  Beth  &  saying  it  "wooled  them" 
bad.  On  saying  that  I  feared  the  dust  would  get  in  the  meat,  as  it  was 
frying,  George  said  he  would  as  soon  have  his  broiled  as  any  way,  so 
laughing,  &  jokeing  we  forgot  our  antipathies  to  the  fire  some  said  it  had 
improved  all  the  supper,  even  the  coffee.  [May  29  —  46th  day]  Hear  of 
people  killing  buffalo,  the  ground  is  strewed  with  their  bones.  Passed 
a  prairie  dog  town,^  killed  two,  that  we  might  have  a  near  view  of  them; 
they  resemble  both  the  squirrel  &  puppy,  teeth  feet  and  tail  like  the 
.squirrel  their  shape  is  more  like  that  of  a  puppy;  their  color  is  redish 
grey,  their  size  about  twice  that  of  a  fox  squirrel,  some  pronounce  them 
good  to  eat,  they  bark  nearly  like  a  little  puppy  but  their  note  is  quicker 
&  more  like  a  squirrel,  as  we  first  came  in  sight,  they  comenced  barking 
&  running  from  hole  to  hole,  &  it  is  believed  that  they  are  all  connected 
by  subteraneous  passages,  which  is  probably  the  case,  for  they  are  not  but 
a  few  feet  apart,  and  on  the  near  approach  of  any  one,  they  will  "disappear 
in  a  twinkling,"  &  appear  as  if  they  turn  a  summerset  right  down  into 
their  hole.  They  set  up  straight  on  their  hind  feet  when  they  bark,  & 
they  are  so  near  the  color  of  the  sand  that  you  can  hardly  see  them, 
unless  in  motion.  Shot  a  young  hare,  which  made  us  a  fine  dinner.  The 
water  along  here  is  very  poor;  the  river  water  is  said  to  be  healthiest,  but 
it  is  warm,  &  muddy. 

[May  30  —  47th  day]  The  road  is  along  the  bank  of  the  river,  which 
is  very  straight,  &  on  each  side  of  which,  are  high  sandhills  or  bluffs, 
from  2  to  10  ms.  distant  from  the  river,  it  is  the  same  the  whole  way,  & 
you  can  see  no  father  [sic]  on  either  side  than  these  miniature  mountains, 
for  they  present  in  many  places  a  beautiful  outline;  [May  31  — 48th  day] 
the  scenery  along  the  river  is  very  monotonous  &  the  weather  is  quite 
warm,  &  the  diarhia  prevails  to  some  extent  among  the  emigrants,  we 
are  all  slightly  affected  it  is  no  doubt  owing  to  the  quality  of  the  water, 
for  most  of  it,  is  impregnated  more  or  less  with  alkali.  [June  1  — 49th 
day]  One  of  our  company  quite  sick  to-day.  The  grass  is  very  good 
along  here,  looks  like  a  meadow.  Saw  four  buffalo  feeding  near  the 
bluffs,  some  3  ms.  distant,  2  of  our  party,  &  another  man,  went  in  persuit; 
this  man  killed  one  of  them,  &  they  brought  what  they  could  to  the  wag- 
gons, &  left  the  remainder  of  it  to  the  wolves.  We  came  on  &  encamped 
to  the  right,  on  the  west  bank  of  a  beautiful  stream,  I  think  called  Buffalo 
creek,^  we  made  some  soup  from  the  marrow  bon&  of  our  fresh  meat, 
which  I  think  an  epicure  would  have  called  good,  and  eating  this  with 
boiled  rice  helped  us  very  much.  Here  is  signs  of  game  in  abundance, 
elk,  deer,  buffalo,  antelope,  hare,  &c. 


^  The  species  Cynomys  Ludovicianus,  whose  burrow-towns  were  common  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
-  Buffalo  Creek,  a  northern  affluent  of  the  Platte  River,  in  Nebraska. 


22  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

June  2  —  50th  dav]  The  bluffs  in  this  place  approach  the  river,  & 
the  road  passes  over  them  for  6  ms,  the  sand  is  from  6  to  15  inches  in 
depth,  it  being  very  warm,  &  such  hard  pulling  that  our  cattle  lolled  their 
tounges  out  for  breath;  w^e  stoped  when  we  came  down  to  the  river,  & 
nooned.  Passed  on,  saw  a  train  which  was  stoped  &  digging  a  grave 
for  a  woman,  who  had  died  this  morning,  having  been  taken  sick  only 
last  night ;  she  leaves  a  husband  &  2  small  children,  this  is  sad  at  any  time, 
but  much  more  so  here.  On  a  little  father  [siq,  an  old  man  was  suddenly 
taken  with  the  cholera,  by  drinking  a  draught  of  cold  water  from  a  spring, 
the  Dr.  stoped  with  him  an  hour  or  two,  but  thought  he  would  not  live ;  I 
never  heard  from  him  again. 

June  3  —  51st  day]  Had  a  fine  shower  of  rain  last  night,  which  has 
laid  the  dust,  &  the  road  is  level,  &  it  is  fine  traveling  to-day,  nooned  op- 
posite Cedar  Bluffs,^  which  are  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  &  the  little 
dwarf  cedars  which  grow  upon  them,  are  all  the  trees  that  I  have  seen 
for  many  mile,  &  shall  see  again  very  soon. 

June  4  —  52d  day]  Passed  where  they  were  burying  a  man  ;  scarce 
a  day  but  some  one  is  left  on  these  plains,  to  return  to  their  mother  dust; 
may  the  Lord  pity,  &  bless  the  widows  &  orphans,  who  are  left  behind. 

June  5  —  53d  day]  Nooned  nearly  opposite  Castle  Bluffs,^  here  we 
were  joined  by  2  teams,  a  man  &  his  family,  &  his  widowed  sister  with  her 
family,  she  was  going  only  to  Salt  Lake,  they  had  5  or  6  cows  which  gave 
milk,  they  gave  me  an  excellent  one  to  milk,  for  they  had  more  than  they 
could  well  tend  to,  &  we  were  willing  that  they  should  travel  with  us, 
which  they  did  to  the  end  of  our  journey. 

June  6 — 54th  day]  Most  of  the  soil  here  is  very  barren,  the  wild 
sage  sets  in  here  it  is  very  small,  not  much  wood  about  this.  Came  in 
sight  of  Courthouse^  and  Chimney*  rocks  some  30  or  40  miles  distant, 
they  have  a  beautiful  appearance.  Passed  some  bluffs  on  our  right  which 
presented  a  very  singular  &  picturesque  appearance,  resembling  a  ruined 
wall  &  buildings.  A  few  miles  onward  to  the  left  we  found  good  camping. 
In  a  tent  near  by  was  a  man  very  sick,  the  Dr.  went  &  stayed  with  him  till 
morning  July  7  —  55th  day],  when  he  died,  leaving  a  wife  &  one  child, 
they  put  him  in  his  narrow  bed  &  left  him  there  to  sleep  (rest)  alone. 
Traveled  about  25  ms,  &  encamped  on  the  bank  of  the  river  opposite 
Chimney  rock,  which  appeared  to  us  to  be  very  near  the  other  bank  of 
the  river  but  I  am  told  it  is  3  ms.  distant  &  that  is  why  it  did  not  look 
larger  to  me,  but  I  knew  it  was  much  larger  than  it  seemed  to  be  there, 
for  when  we  were  10  ms  distant  it  did  not  appear  any  smaller  &  not  much 


•  Perhaps  near  Cedar  Point,  Keith  Co.,  Neb. 

'  Not  definitely  located,  but  perhaps  in  Keith  Co.,  Neb.,  between  the  North  Platte  and  South  Platte 
Rivers. 

*  Courthoiise  Rock,  a  huge  mass  of  sand  and  clay,  near  Pumpkin  Creek,  in  Cheyenne  County,  Neb. 
There  is  a  good  description  of  it  in  Delano's  Life  on  the  Plains  (1854),  p.  69-70. 

♦Chimney  Rock,  near  the  western  boundary  of  Cheyenne  County,  Neb.  Its  height,  in  1832,  as 
given  bv  Captain  Bonneville,  was  175  yards.  —  Irvmg's  The  Rocky  Mountains.  Phila..  1837,  vol.  1,  p.  45. 
It  has  become  greatly  reduced  in  height  by  erosion.  —  Chittenden's  Hist,  of  American  Fur  Trade,  vol.  1, 
p.  467.     For  a  description  and  view  in  1842.  see  Fremont's  Report.     Washington,  1845,  p.  33. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  23 

farther  off.    There  was  a  man  very  sick  in  a  tent  near  by,  supposed  to  be 
cholera. 

[June  8  —  56th  day]  A  fine  cool  breeze  from  the  mountains  makes  it 
very  pleasant.  Passed  a  large  prarie  dog  town  it  was  about  2  ms  long 
by  one  broad,  they  kept  up  a  wonderful  barking,  &  running  from  house 
to  house,  but  disappeared  on  our  approach  &  kept  perfectly  still,  until  we 
got  a  little  passed,  when  they  would  jump  up,  &  stand  as  straight  &  bark 
with  all  their  might,  &  no  doubt  they  were  saying  some  very  hard  things 
against  us,  for  the  boys  shot  several  of  them,  although  I  beg[g]ed  them  not 
to  hurt  them,  for  it  is  pitiful  to  see  them  when  one  is  wounded  or  killed 
outside,  &  cannot  get  into  his  hole;  others  will  rush  out,  &  drag  him  in, 
when  they  will  commence  barking  with  all  their  might,  &  directly  the 
whole  town  join  in,  as  if  they  had  been  informed,  &  understood  that  one 
of  their  number  was  wounded  or  dead.  If  there  were  any  of  these  little 
animals  in  Ireland,  we  might  easily  account  for  their  legends  of  Faries, 
Elfs  &c.  And  I  think  if  their  habits  were  thouroughly  studied,  that  they ' 
would  be  found  to  possess  wonderful  powers  of  instinct.  ^KJKK[0  ^P*"^'-^'' 

[June  9  —  57th  day]  Came  in  sight  of  Laramie  Peak,^  its  dark  out- 
line resting  against  the  clouds  had  a  sublime  appearance.  Passed  where 
they  were  diging  a  grave  for  a  girl  12  years  old;  how  hard  it  must  be 
to  leave  ones  children  on  these  desolate  plains,  but  "God  will  watch  over 
all  their  dust  till  He  shall  bid  it  rise."  [June  10  —  58th  day]  To-day  & 
yesterday  the  roads  very  sandy  &  in  some  places  hilly,  had  a  small  shower 
of  rain,  turned  down  to  the  river,  nearly  2  miles  from  the  road,  found 
excellent  wood,  which  had  been  drifted  there  by  the  river  in  high  water, 
&  likewise  fine  grass.  We  are  about  5  ms.  from  Ft.  Laramie.^  Near  by 
where  we  nooned  to-day,  there  was  2  dead  Indians  in  the  top  of  a  cotton- 
wood  tree,^  this  being  their  manner  of  disposing  of  their  dead.  They 
were  wraped  in  well  dressed  buffalo  hides,  &  then  lashed  to  several  small 
poles,  which  were  fastened  to  the  limbs  of  the  tree,  it  was  a  very  singular 
sight,  they  must  have  been  there  some  time,  as  I  found  a  part  of  an  old 
rusty  knife,  which  had  probably  been  one  of  the  many  things  which  had 
been  hung  on  the  tree,  such  as,  knife,  bow  &  arrow,  &  whatever  he  might 
have  posessed.  [June  11  —  59th  day]  We  started  out  in  the  morning  for 
town,  reached  it  about  9  o'clock  or  rather  opposite  the  place,  we  halted  a 
little  while,  one  of  the  company  rode  over  &  put  some  letters  in  the  P.  O. 
This  is  quite  a  place,  several  fine  buildings,  nestled  here  among  the  hills 
it  looks  like  a  rose  in  the  wilderness.  There  were  several  indian  lodges 
not  far  from  the  road,  &  plenty  of  Indians.  Taking  a  last  look  of  the  town 
we  departed  on  our  journey. 


*  Laramie  Peak,  the  highest  point  of  the  Laramie  Mountains  of  Wyoming,  altitude  9020  feet. 

^  Fort  Laramie,  at  the  confluence  of  the  North  Platte  and  Laramie  Rivers,  Wyoming,  was  named 
after  Joseph  Larame  (or  La  Ramie),  a  trapper  who  lost  his  life  here  in  1821.  Near  by  was  an  earlier  station 
of  the  American  Fur  Company,  known  successively  as  Fort  William  and  Fort  John.  A  near  view,  as  seen 
in  1842  by  Fremont,  is  in  his  Report.  Washington,  1845,  opp.  p.  40.  The  federal  government  bought  out 
the  trading  company  in  1849  and  Fort  Laramie  became  a  military  station;  a  birdseye  view  of  the  latter  year 
is  in  H.  H.  Bancroft's  Works,  vol.  25,  p.  690.  For  a  full  history  of  the  fort,  see  Coutant's  Hist,  of  Wyoming, 
vol.  1,  p.  296-329. 

'  One  of  the  many  mortuary  customs  of  the  Indians,  known  as  tree-burial. 


24  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

CHAPTER  V 
From  Ft.  Laramie  to  the  South  Pass 

We  now  turned  to  the  right,  &  commenced  ascending  the  black  hills,* 
the  scenery  is  wild  &  magnifficent,  the  contrast  was  delightful,  we  en- 
camped in  a  most  romantic  spot,  where  not  far  distant  a  fine  spring  of 
cold  water  rushed  out  of  the  mountain ;  this  was  refreshing,  and  our  cat- 
tle climed  isic-\  the  hills  to  feed  upon  the  rich  seeded  grasses  which  grow 
in  bunches  on  their  sides.  The  ground  is  covered  with  the  richest  profu- 
sion, &  variety  of  flowers,  but  all  were  strange  to  me,  except  the  wild 
rose  which  was  the  only  one  which  was  sweet  sented.  June  12  —  60th 
day]  The  roads  here  are  smooth  &  excellent,  but  hilly,  &  in  some  places 
very  steep,  it  is  so  hard  that  it  is  bad  on  the  catties  feet,  &  waggons. 
Passed  where  they  were  diging  a  grave  for  a  woman,  who  had  died  that 
morning,  leaving  a  husband  &  2  small  children.  She  rests  in  a  lovely  spot, 
in  sight,  &  opposite  Laramie  Peak,  &  surrounded  with  hills.  Came  to 
a  good  spring  of  water,  &  encamped  quite  early.  Two  of  our  men  went 
out  hunting,  &  succeeded  in  killing  an  antelope,  &  a  mountain  hare;  we 
soon  took  their  jackets  off,  &  another  such  a  broiling,  boiling  &  roasting 
you  never  saw,  there  being  more  than  our  company  wanted,  we  let  our 
nearest  neighbors  have  2  quarters,  we  staid  here  until  the  next  day  noon, 
it  being  sunday.  [June  13.  —  61st  day]  We  drove  about  10  ms.  &  en- 
camped in  the  midst  of  volcanic  hills,  no  water,  not  much  grass,  the  soil 
is  thin,  the  ground  is  covered  with  cactus,  or  prickley  pear,  the  blossom 
of  which  is  very  beautiful  of  different  colors,  some  pink,  some  yellow  & 
some  red.  Here  the  earth  has  felt  a  shock  at  no  very  distant  period,  &  by 
a  convulsive  throe,  these  enormous  piles  of  volcanic  rocks  were  upheaved; 
I  went  out  and  climbed  upon  the  top  of  one  of  these  mountains  of  red 
stone  sat  down,  &  looked  with  wonder  about,  &  thought  of  the  dreadful 
scene  which  it  must  have  once  presented.  Then  came  the  question,  what 
has  caused  the  earth  to  be  to  its  center  shook  ?  Sin !  the  very  rocks  seemed 
to  reverberate.  Sin  has  caused  them  to  be  upheaved  that  they  may  be 
eternal  monuments  of  the  curse  &  fall  of  man;  viewing  these  symbols  of 
divine  wrath,  I  felt  humbled;  I  took  a  small  stone  &  wrote  upon  a  flat 
rock  beside  me,  Remember  me  in  mercy  O  lord.  I  shall  never  forget  this 
wild  scene,  &  my  thoughts  &  reflections  there. 

June  14  —  62d  day]  Roads  being  good,  we  traveled  about  24  ms.  to- 
day, returned  to  the  river,  encamped,  it  is  quite  small  here,  but  runs 
faster  than  ever,  the  water  is  not  much  better,  Mountains  in  the  distance 
on  both  sides  of  the  river,  with  small  cedars  &  pines  growing  upon  them. 


'  So  called  from  their  having  a  dark  appearance  in  the  distance  by  reason  of  the  small  cedars  which 
grow  upon  them.  —  Orioinal  note.  The  name  Black  Hills  was  used  collectively  to  denote  all  of  the  ranges 
in  the  region  of  the  Laramie  Mountains,  which  are  situate  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Wyoming  and  form 
a  curvilinear  or  semi-circular  range,  of  which  the  lower  part  has  now  the  restricted  name  of  Black  Hills. 
Cf.  Delano's  Life  on  the  Plains,  p.  80-81,  HI,  for  an  interesting,  contemporary  topographical  description. 


>J'i-tc/iia^^--rn,at:^a^c/^/i^^4^/^i^  c^Z/^-^^t^y^  c/.ec4..^ 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  25 

Roads  rocky  &  hilly,  came  to  the  river  at  noon  [June  15  —  63d  day],  where 
there  was  a  grove  of  cottonwood  trees,  here  were  several  indians  in- 
camped,  &  a  frenchman  who  kept  a  few  articles  to  sell,  the  principle  article 
was  whiskey,  which  he  sold  at  12  dollars  per  gallon,  or  25  cts  a  drink, 
there  were  several  indian  families,  I  went  round  to  their  lodges,  saw  one 
old  indian  106  years  old,  he  shook  hands  with  us,  smiled,  appeared  well, 
but  he  looked  very  aged ;  two  fine  looking  young  squaws  were  seated  at 
the  door  of  the  tent,  embroidering  a  deer  skin  to  make  a  coat,  they  showed 
me  one  they  had  already  made,  &  I  must  say  that  nicer  work  with  a  needle 
I  never  saw,  or  any  thing  more  beautiful,  it  looked  like  sattin,  &  was  finely 
ornamented  with  various  colored  beeds.  These  two  girls  probably  were 
this  old  mans  descendants  of  the  3d  or  4th  generation. 

[June  16  —  64th  day]  Roads  very  hilly,  sandy,  &  dusty,  quite  warm 
weather,  nights  cool,  light  showers  occasionly.  We  bought  a  cow  to-day 
to  work  with  our  odd  steer;  gave  16  dollars  &  a  half;  some  of  the  rest  of 
the  company  bought  3  or  4,  for  people  trade  all  along  the  road  selling 
brandy,  hardbread,  flour,  bacon,  sugar  &c,  for  most  of  those  packing  now 
are  out  of  provisions,  &  b[U]y  of  the  waggons,  or  get  their  meals  at  the 
tents,  people  do  not  charge  very  high  for  whatever  they  have  to  spare, 
for  they  do  not  like  to  haul  it.  [June  17  —  65th  day]  The  roads  still 
sandy;  we  are  about  100  ms.  above  Ft.  Laramie  saw  a  horned  frog^  which 
appears  to  be  the  link  between  the  toad  and  the  terapin,  or  mud  turtle; 
it  is  about  the  size  of  a  small  toad,  his  body  very  flat  &  round,  light  colored 
but  specked  with  red  &  black  specs ;  has  two  knots,  or  horns  on  his  head, 
a  short  peaked  tail,  &  crawles  around  very  lively,  but  does  not  jump,  like 
a  frog  or  toad.  Where  we  nooned  today,  as  we  started  out,  we  saw  some 
men  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  chaseing  a  buffalo,  which  on  coming 
to  the  river,  plunged  in,  &  made  for  our  side;  the  men  gathered  their 
guns,  ran  for  the  bank,  stationed  themselves  by  some  trees,  the  buffalo 
coming  to  a  sandbar  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  halted  a  while,  &  those 
on  the  other  shore,  poured  out  upon  him  a  shower  of  bullets.  I  looked  for 
him  to  fall  every  moment,  but  they  overshot  him,  for  their  balls  struck  the 
water  on  this  side;  a  dog  was  sent  into  the  river,  he  made  for  the  buffalo, 
&  seizing  him  by  the  tail,  he  made  for  our  shore  &  as  he  neared  it,  the 
dog  still  hanging  to  his  tail,  &  swimming,  as  he  rose  upon  the  bank,  he 
commenced  to  gallop  away,  when  several  guns  were  discharged  at  him, 
he  halted,  one  lead  entered  the  seat  o^  life,  the  red  blood  spouted  from  his 
side ;  an  ounce  &  a  half  ball  from  Georges  double  barrel  shot  gun,  had  done 
the  deed;  he  walked  on  a  little  farther  to  some  water,  went  into  it,  fell 
down,  struggled  &  died  in  a  few  minutes.  Twenty  men  with  as  many 
knives  in  as  many  minutes,  had  him  in  pieces  ready  for  the  stewkettle. 
One  old  mountaineer  made  choice  of  a  delicate  part,  observing  that  no  one 
would  probably  quarrel  with  him  for  his  (part)  piece.  He  was  a  fine 
male  buffalo,  eight  years  old  (judging  from  his  horns)   hair  short,  & 


^  Not  a  frog,  but  a  lizard,  genus  Phrynosoma. 


26  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

nearly  black.  I  never  saw  a  more  noble  looking  animal,  his  eye  looked 
green  &  firy  in  death,  such  strength  did  his  enormous  neck,  &  great 
muscles  exhibit,  that  all  wished  they  had  a  team  like  him.  All  repaired 
to  their  tents,  to  have  a  feast,  we  drove  down  to  the  river,  where  there 
was  plenty  of  grass  &  wood,  &  encamped  for  the  remainder  of  the  day; 
we  jerked  most  of  our  meat,^  baked,  boiled  &  fried  some;  it  was  fine  beef, 
some  said  that  it  was  better  than  any  beef  they  had  ever  eat.  In  the  morn- 
ing [June  18  —  66th  day]  we  renewed  our  journey,  quite  refreshed. 
Passed  the  ferry ^  of  the  north  fork  of  Platte  river;  it  is  kept  by  some 
french,  &  indians,  they  have  3  boats  well  fixed  with  ropes  &  pullies,  &  cross 
with  ease,  and  expedition,  they  charge  5  dollars  per  waggon,  50  cts  for 
every  animal,  &  person;  this  is  a  heavy  tax  on  the  emigration,  besides, 
this  vast  amount  of  money  is  in  a  manner  thrown  away,  if  the  general  gov- 
ernment would  take  possession  of  or  build  ferries  on  the  principal  streams 
on  this  route  &  the  prices  be  reduced  one  half  or  more;  it  would  be  a 
Httle  something  in  Uncle  Sams  pocket,  &  remove  an  obstruction,  I  might 
have  said  destruction,  because  property,  &  even  lives  are  lost,  by  trying 
to  swim  their  teams  across  for  as  small  as  the  sum  may  seem,  many  have 
not  got  it,  for  they  have  probably  laid  out  all  their  money  for  their  outfit, 
for  most  of  those  who  go  by  land,  are  perhaps  not  able  to  go  by  water, 
but  let  the  case  be  as  it  may,  no  one  let  him  have  ever  so  much  money, 
likes  to  have  it  extorted  from  him.  There  is  no  reason  why  a  ferry  should 
not  be  kept  here  at  a  reasonable  rate,  for  ferriage.  On  the  high  bluffs, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  is  plenty  of  excellent  pine,  &  cedar  timber, 
as  the  gunwales  of  their  boats  show,  for  they  said  they  got  them  there, 
&  provisions  for  a  few  men,  could  be  had  at  a  reasonable  rate,  of  the 
emigrant.  June  19  —  67th  day]  Fine  roads  this  morning,  we  came  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  where  we  had  a  view  of  the  Sweet  water  mountains,^ 
distant  some  40  miles,  we  turned  down  to  the  right,  &  encamped  in  a  beau- 
tiful little  valley,  good  grass  but  the  water,  what  little  there  was,  is 
charged  with  alkali  but  there  is  no  better  anywhere  near;  a  great  many 
camped  hear  [siq  to-night,  it  had  the  appearance  of  a  large  town,  &  in  a 
tent  near  by  ours,  they  were  fiddling  &  dancing,  nearly  all  night ;  this  was 
the  first  dancing  I  had  seen  on  the  plains,  although  I  had  seen  some  choose 
partners  on  the  Steamboat,  for  the  first  sett  on  the  plains,  but  there  had 
been  so  much  sickness  on  the  Platte,  that  perhaps  they  were  rejoicing  that 
they  had  left  it.  June  20  —  68th  day]  We  passed  on  over  a  sandy  bar- 
ren country,  where  even  sage  cannot  grow,  but  a  still  hardier  shrub  called 
greese  wood*  abounds  here,  it  is  good  for  nothing  to  burn,  &  I  cannot 
think  of  any  use  it  is,  unless,  for  the  rabbits  to  hide  behind.  Quite  warm, 
cool  breeze  from  the  mountains;  we  crossed  greesewood  creek,*^  went 

>  Refers  to  the  process  of  cutting  meat  into  long  strips  and  preserving  it  by  drying  in  the  open  air 
or  over  a  fire. 

*A8  to  these  early  ferries  kept  by  French  Canadians,  etc.,  see  CouUnt's  Hist,  of  IVyoming,  vol.  1, 
p.  365-367. 

*  Granite  Mountains  seem  to  be  meant. 

*  Greasewood,  a   low  shrub  prevalent   in  saline  localities  of  the  West  and  of  various  genera. 

*  Greasewood  Creek,  an  affluent  of  the  Sweetwater  River. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  27 

down  some  2  ms,  &  encamped,  not  very  good  grass,  I  have  been  told  that 
it  is  better  5  or  6  miles  farther  down,  where  it  empties  into  Sweet  water.^ 
June  21  — 69th  day]  We  saw  several  antelope,  2  of  our  men  went 
in  persuit,  killed  a  young  one;  came  across  a  human  skeleton,  brought 
the  skull  bone  to  the  waggon,  I  think  it  was  an  indians  skull.  We  soon 
came  in  sight  of  Independence  Rock,^  it  did  not  look  at  all  like  I  had 
formed  an  idea,  &  at  a  distance,  it  has  no  very  imposing  appearance;  but 
as  we  approached  it,  its  magnitude  was  then  striking,  &  beautiful,  it  is  an 
enormous  mass  of  solid  blocks  of  granite,  it  is  so  large  that  its  highth 
seems  inconsiderable,  until  you  climb  upon  it,  which  you  can  easily  do, 
at  least  I  did,  but  when  I  reached  the  low  place  in  the  middle,  I  took  off 
my  shoes,  for  in  passing  around  the  side  to  go  up  to  the  top,  there  is 
some  danger  of  sliping,  which  would  presipitate  you  to  the  bottom.  There 
are  thousands  of  names  of  persons  upon  this  rock,  which  have  been  placed 
there  from  year  to  year,  by  those  who  think,  "there  is  something  in  a 
name"  &  many  beautiful  flowers  growing  in  the  crevices  I  have  one  which 
I  gathered  here  near  the  top  of  the  rock  it  is  a  kind  of  Lilly  a  beautiful 
flower.  We  nooned  here,  &  then  went  on  crossed  sweet  water,*  which  I 
had  supposed  from  its  name  to  be  the  best  water  in  the  world,  but  it  has 
more  alkali  in  it,  than  the  Platte,  it  is  not  so  muddy,  but  the  water  is 
nearly  the  same  here.  Some  6  or  8  miles  onward,  we  came  to  what  is 
called  the  Devils  Gate,^  it  is  a  deep  chasam,  or  gap  in  the  mountain,  which 
has  been  rent  assunder  for  the  passage  of  Sweet  Water  river,  the  open- 
ing is  not  wide,  but  the  rocks  on  each  side  are  perpendicular,  &  of  great 
highth  some  400  ft.,  the  road  passes  a  little  to  the  right,  where  there  is  a 
nataral  pass  through  the  mountain,  but  we  could  hear  the  river  roaring, 
&  chafing,  through  its  narrow  rocky  channel;  a  person  who  has  curiosity, 
&  nerve  enough,  may  climb  &  look  over  the  brink  of  this  yawning  gulf. 
Some  of  our  men  went  up  part  way,  but  said  that  satisfied  their  curiosity. 
We  passed  here  a  trading  post,  they  kept  quite  an  assortment  of  goods, 
which  were  all  brought  from  St.  Louis,  their  [sic]  enormous  waggons, 
serving  as  a  kind  of  shop,  &  store  house;  they  said  they  had  brought  60 
hundred  to  the  waggon  from  St.  Louis;  they  had  recruited  their  teams, 
some  of  them  were  fat,  for  the  grass  here  is  excellent;  they  offered  them 
for  sale,  one  of  our  company  bought  3  yoke,  for  from  45,  to  60  dollars  per 

1  This  river  rises  in  the  Wind  River  Mountains  and  is  a  western  affluent  of  the  North  Platte  River. 
For  the  roads  and  fords  in  this  region,  see  Delano,  p.   104-105. 

^  Independence  Rock  is  said  to  have  received  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of  a  party  ascending 
it  on  July  4th  and  celebrating  there  Independence  Day.  It  is  an  isolated  mass  of  gray  granite  in  length 
about  1950  feet,  and  in  height  about  120  feet,  according  to  Fremont's  observation  in  1842,  at  which  time 
he  marked  a  large  cross  thereon,  a  fact  which  was  introduced  adversely  against  him  during  his  presidential 
campaign  in  1856.  Fremont  speaks  of  the  many  names  inscribed  on  the  rock.  —  Fremont's  Report.  Wash- 
ington, 1845,  p.  72.  On  account  of  these  names  it  has  been  called  a  "tombstone"  and  Father  De  Smet 
named  it  "the  great  register  of  the  desert."  Joel  Palmer,  in  1845,  described  it  as  follows:  "Portions  of 
it  are  covered  with  inscriptions  of  the  names  of  travelers,  with  the  dates  of  their  arrival  —  some  carved, 
some  in  black  paint,  and  others  in  red."  —  Journal,  in  Thwaites's  "Early  Western  Travels,"  vol.  30,  p.  67. 
For  other  descriptions,  see  Delano,  p.   98;   Chittenden,  vol.    1,  p.   471-472. 

^  Sweetwater  River. 

*  Described  by  Fremont,  in  1842,  as  follows:  "Devil's  Gate,  where  the  Sweet  Water  cuts  through 
the  point  of  a  granite  ridge.  The  length  of  the  passage  is  about  three  hundred  yards  and  the  width  thirty- 
five  yards.  The  walls  of  rock  are  vertical,  and  about  four  hundred  feet  in  height."  —  Report.  Washington, 
1845,  p.  57,  where  a  picture  of  it  is  also  given.  For  other  descriptions,  see  Palmer's  Journal,  in  Thwaites's 
"Early  Western  Travels,"  vol.  30,  p.   67-68;   Delano,  p.  99-100;   Chittenden,  vol.   1,  p.   473-474. 


28  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

yoke.  This  is  a  romantic  place,  &  a  g-ood  place  for  a  post,  for  there  is 
abundance  of  grass,  &  water;  &  some  considerable  pine  &  cedar  timber 
on  the  mountains.  We  followed  up  the  stream  two  or  3  ms  &  encamped, 
where  the  mountains  were  of  naked  rocks,  without  the  least  vegetation 
upon  them,  I  now  saw  how  appropriate  the  name,  stony  or  rocky  was 
applied  to  them.  We  passed  an  alkaH  pond  this  morning  &  gathered 
up  a  panful  of  the  salaratus,  which  looks  like  frozen  snow,  forming  a  crust 
around  the  edge  of  the  water;  I  tried  some  of  it,  in  some  bread;  it  made 
it  quite  light,  but  gave  it  a  bitter  taste. 

[June  22  —  70th  day]  The  roads  very  sandy ;  while  we  were  nooning, 
there  was  a  severe  hailstorm,  but  it  had  nearly  expended  itself,  before 
it  reached  us,  but  as  we  proceeded,  we  found  the  hail  in  places  2  or  3  inches 
deep,  &  they  were  so  large,  that  it  had  trimed  up  the  sage  brush  com- 
pletely ;  it  lay  on  the  ground  in  shady  places  till  the  next  day,  we  encamped 
for  the  night  on  the  river,  very  good  grass,  but  there  was  alkali  all  over  the 
ground,  we  tried  to  keep  our  cattle  from  it  as  much  as  we  could,  but  they 
got  a  little,  which  affected  them  some,  but  we  gave  them  some  fat  bacon, 
which  is  said  to  be  good  for  them.  Great  sign  of  buffalo  here;  also  saw 
one  today  galloping  away  through  a  gap^  in  the  mountains.  June  23  — 
71st  day]  To  day  we  passed  through  a  narrow  defile  in  the  mountains, 
where  we  were  compeled  to  ford  the  river  3  times, ^  in  less  than  2  miles, 
we  had  to  block  up  our  waggon  bed  several  inches;  it  is  a  very  bad  place, 
there  is  a  way  to  go  around,  but  I  am  told  that  it  is  about  10  ms.  &  very 
sandy.  There  were  goose  berry  bushes  here  by  the  road  side,  this  was 
the  first  fruit  we  had  seen ;  we  gathered  some  of  the  green  berries,  stewed 
them  for  supper,  found  them  delicious.  We  soon  emerged  into  an  open 
plain,  where  the  main  chain  of  the  Rocky  mountains  appeared  in  the 
distance;  Crossed  Sweet  Water  again,  went  up  a  few  miles  &  encamped; 
not  very  good  grass,  plenty  of  alkali,  &  some  of  the  largest  kind  of  sage, 
we  soon  had  a  good  fire,  for  the  nights  are  getting  cool  here  in  the  moun- 
tains, &  after  supper  we  were  seated  around  it,  some  sitting  on  yokes,  & 
some  on  buffalo  heads ;  &  they  do  not  make  a  bad  seat ;  and  some  are  used 
for  writing  upon,  &  then  setting  them  up  by  the  side  of  the  road,  gen- 
erally informing  the  passerby,  that  Mr.  A.  B.  &c.  passed  such  a  day,  all 
well  &c.  Saw  some  written  in  '49  &  '50,  &  though  penciled  was  not  yet 
effaced,  we  frequently  find  a  buffalo  head  stuck  up  with  a  notice,  that 
there  is  a  spring  in  such  &  such  a  place;  nearly  all  the  skulls  &  shoulder 
blades  along  the  road,  are  more  or  less  written  upon.  Loyd  he  wrote 
a  moralizing  epitaph  upon  a  very  large  old  skull,  stating  that  this  animal 
had  fulfilled  the  laws  of  nature,  &  that  his  head,  still  served  as  a  seat  to  the 
weary  traveler. 

[June  24  —  72d  day]  Had  a  shower  last  evening,  quite  cool,  have 
to  wrap  up  to  keep  warm,  good  roads,  except  3  or  4  this  morning,  passed 
the  ice  springs;  here  are  great  quantities  of  alkali,  &  saltpeter,  which  kills 


•  Delano,  p.  104-lOS,  refers  to  the  "gap"  or  "gloomy  gorge." 

*  The  place  known  as  the  Three  Crossings. 


ACROSS  THE  PLAINS  TO  CALIFORNIA  IN  1852  29 

the  stalk  [Stock]  which  stop  here,  for  we  saw  more  dead  cattle  to  day, 
than  we  have  seen  before  on  the  route.  We  did  not  stop  to  dig  for  ice,^ 
for  we  were  cold  enough  without  it.  Passed  on  crossed  Sweet  Water 
twice,  &  encamped  on  the  same,  found  tolerable  grass.  There  was  a 
trading  post  at  the  head  of  this  little  valey,  which  we  passed  in  the  morn- 
ing. [June  25  —  73d  day]  The  roads  to  day  hilly  &  rocky,  weather  cold, 
had  a  sprinkle  of  snow  &  hail;  as  we  reached  the  top  of  a  high  ridge 
we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  wind  range  of  mountains^  a  little  to  our  right, 
these  are  the  highest  peaks  of  these  mountains,  which  we  have  been 
so  long  gradually  ascending,  nothing  that  I  had  before  seen  of  moun- 
tain scenery,  was  half  so  beautiful,  for  the  white  snow  lying  upon  the 
dark  blue  ground,  looked  like  pictures  of  silver;  no  painting  can  give 
that  delicate  tint,  of  light  &  shade,  &  it  continually  varied,  as  the  light 
of  the  sun  shown  upon  it,  or  when  it  was  obscured  by  clouds.  We 
passed  a  bank  of  snow,  and  an  ice  spring,  so  called,  from  its  water  being 
as  cold  as  ice  could  make  it.  It  was  excellent  water  but  the  weather  was 
rather  to  cold  to  have  made  much  of  a  relish  for  it.  We  went  on  to  Straw- 
berry creek^  &  encamped,  good  grass,  &  the  water  of  this  beautiful 
stream,  is  excellent.  George  had  a  severe  chill,  this  evening,  and  a  high 
fever,  he  was  sick  a  day  or  two.  We  are  about  15  ms  from  the  South 
Pass,  we  are  hardly  half  zvay.^  I  felt  tired  &  weary,  O  the  luxury  of  a  house, 
a  house!  I  felt  what  some  one  expressed,  who  had  traveled  this  long  & 
tidious  journey,  that,  "it  tries  the  soul."  I  would  have  given  all  my  in- 
terest in  California,  to  have  been  seated  around  my  own  fireside,  sur- 
rounded by  friend  &  relation.  That  this  journey  is  tiresome,  no  one  will 
doubt,  that  it  is  perilous,  the  deaths  of  many  testify,  and  the  heart  has  a 
thousand  missgivings,  &  the  mind  is  tortured  with  anxiety,  &  often  as 
I  passed  the  fresh  made  graves,  I  have  glanced  at  the  side  boards  of  the 
waggon,  not  knowing  how  soon  it  might  serve  as  a  coffin  for  sortie  one 
of  us;  but  thanks  for  the  kind  care  of  Providence  we  were  favored  more 
than  some  others. 

[June  26  —  74th  day]  We  proceeded  onward,  crossed  Sweet  Water 
for  the  last  time,^  here  it  is  a  real  mountain  torrent,  we  soon  arrived  at 
the  summit,  or  Pass^  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  this  has  more  the  appear- 
ance of  a  plain,  for  it  is  some  5  ms  across,  &  nearly  30  ms  wide  from  north 
to  south.  The  road  is  sandy,  &  some  rocky,  but  not  steep  in  no  place 
here.     We  traveled  about  25  ms  to-day,  &  encamped  below  the  Pacific 


^  The  ice  is  found  here  by  diging  down  some  18  or  20  inches  below  the  surface.  —  Original  note. 

*  The  Wind  River  Mountains,  a  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  running  northwest  and  southeast, 
in  Fremont  County,  Wyo.,  and  of  which  Fremont  Peak,  of  13,790  feet,  is  the  highest  altitude.  It  was 
the  ultimate  limit  of  Fremont's  expedition  of  1842,  and  he  presents  a  view  of  these  mountains  in  his 
Report.  Washington,  1845,  opp.  p.  66.  This  range  was  earlier  described,  e.  g.  in  Irving's  The  Rocky 
Mountains.     Phila.,   1837,  vol.   1,  p.  62-63. 

'  Strawberry  Creek,  in  Fremont  County,  Wyo. 

*  These  words  are  scored  out  in  the  original  manuscript. 

'  See  on  this  last  crossing,  Delano,  p.  113;  Chittenden,  vol.  1,  chap.  26. 

*  The  South  Pass,  "the  most  celebrated  pass  in  the  entire  length  of  the  Continental  Divide"  and  where 
"the  traveler,  though  only  half-way  to  his  destination,  felt  that  he  could  see  the  beginning  of  the  end."  — 
Chittenden,  vol.  1,  p.  475.  It  is  in  Fremont  County,  Wyo.  Delano,  p.  115,  describes  it.  Gold  was  dis- 
covered here  and  it  became  a  great  goldmining  center,  for  which  see  Coutant's  Hist,  of  Wyoming,  vol. 
1,  chap.  XLIII. 


30  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Springs,^  poor  place  to  camp,  for  where  there  is  any  grass,  it  is  so  miry 
that  it  is  dangerous  for  stalk  [Stock]  to  go,  2  or  3  of  ours  got  in  the  mire 
&  a  good  many  others,  they  were  got  out,  but  with  much  difficulty.  We 
now  consider  ourselves  about  half  way,  but  the  "tug  of  war"  is  yet  to 
come.  We  have  now  bid  adieu  to  the  waters,  which  make  their  way  into 
the  Atalantic,  &  now  we  drink  of  the  waters  which  flow  into  the  Pacific. 
Our  faithful  team  still  looks  well,  they,  nor  we,  have  not  yet  suffered  only 
fatiegue,  they  have  generally  had  plenty  of  grass  &  water,  but  according 
to  the  guides  we  may  suffer  for  both,  but  hope  to  find  it  better  than 
some  have  represented.  More  than  half  of  the  cattle  on  the  road  have 
the  hollow  horn,^  the  man  who  is  traveling  with  us  has  lost,  several  head 
&  there  are  two  or  three  more  which  will  not  go  much  farther.^ 

*  The  Pacific  Springs  empty  into  Pacific  Creek,  an  affluent  of  the  Big  Sandy  River,  in  Fremont 
County,  Wyo.  Here  is  the  first  water  that  is  met  flowing  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Cf.  Delano,  p.  115. 
Chittenden,  vol.   1,  p.   476,  locates  it  as  952  miles  on  the  Oregon  Trail. 

^  A  cattle  disease  through  which  the  core  of  the  horn  is  lost. 

*  Here  her  journal  ends.     It  was  written  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 


Printed  a;  The  New  Yobk  Public  Library 


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